Scheduling With Bandwidth Part Switching

ABSTRACT

A wireless device may receive configuration parameters of a first bandwidth part and a second bandwidth part. A first downlink control information may be received. The first downlink control information may indicate an uplink grant for transmission of one or more first transport blocks via the first bandwidth part in a transmission time. A second downlink control information may be received. The second downlink control information may indicate switching from the first bandwidth part to the second bandwidth part in a switching time. The uplink grant may be ignored in response to the switching time being earlier than the transmission time.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/579,399, filed Oct. 31, 2017, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Examples of several of the various embodiments of the present inventionare described herein with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting example sets of OFDM subcarriers as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a diagram depicting an example transmission time and receptiontime for two carriers in a carrier group as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting OFDM radio resources as per an aspect ofan embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a base station and a wireless device as peran aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG. 5C and FIG. 5D are example diagrams for uplinkand downlink signal transmission as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is an example diagram for a protocol structure withmulti-connectivity as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 7 is an example diagram for a protocol structure with CA and DC asper an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 shows example TAG configurations as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is an example message flow in a random access process in asecondary TAG as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B are example diagrams for interfaces between a 5Gcore network (e.g. NGC) and base stations (e.g. gNB and eLTE eNB) as peran aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11A, FIG. 11B, FIG. 11C, FIG. 11D, FIG. 11E, and FIG. 11F areexample diagrams for architectures of tight interworking between 5G RAN(e.g. gNB) and LTE RAN (e.g. (e)LTE eNB) as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 12A, FIG. 12B, and FIG. 12C are example diagrams for radio protocolstructures of tight interworking bearers as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13A and FIG. 13B are example diagrams for gNB deployment scenariosas per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 is an example diagram for functional split option examples ofthe centralized gNB deployment scenario as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 15 is an example scheduling procedure as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 16 is an example scheduling procedure as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 17 is a flow diagram of an aspect of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 18 is a flow diagram of an aspect of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Example embodiments of the present invention enable operation of carrieraggregation. Embodiments of the technology disclosed herein may beemployed in the technical field of multicarrier communication systems.More particularly, the embodiments of the technology disclosed hereinmay relate to scheduling in a multicarrier communication systems.

The following Acronyms are used throughout the present disclosure:

ASIC application-specific integrated circuit

BPSK binary phase shift keying

CA carrier aggregation

CSI channel state information

CDMA code division multiple access

CSS common search space

CPLD complex programmable logic devices

CC component carrier

CP cyclic prefix

DL downlink

DCI downlink control information

DC dual connectivity

eMBB enhanced mobile broadband

EPC evolved packet core

E-UTRAN evolved-universal terrestrial radio access network

FPGA field programmable gate arrays

FDD frequency division multiplexing

HDL hardware description languages

HARQ hybrid automatic repeat request

IE information element

LTE long term evolution

MCG master cell group

MeNB master evolved node B

MIB master information block

MAC media access control

MAC media access control

MME mobility management entity

mMTC massive machine type communications

NAS non-access stratum

NR new radio

OFDM orthogonal frequency division multiplexing

PDCP packet data convergence protocol

PDU packet data unit

PHY physical

PDCCH physical downlink control channel

PHICH physical HARQ indicator channel

PUCCH physical uplink control channel

PUSCH physical uplink shared channel

PCell primary cell

PCell primary cell

PCC primary component carrier

PSCell primary secondary cell

pTAG primary timing advance group

QAM quadrature amplitude modulation

QPSK quadrature phase shift keying

RBG resource block groups

RLC radio link control

RRC radio resource control

RA random access

RB resource blocks

SCC secondary component carrier

SCell secondary cell

Scell secondary cells

SCG secondary cell group

SeNB secondary evolved node B

sTAGs secondary timing advance group

SDU service data unit

S-GW serving gateway

SRB signaling radio bearer

SC-OFDM single carrier-OFDM

SFN system frame number

SIB system information block

TAI tracking area identifier

TAT time alignment timer

TDD time division duplexing

TDMA time division multiple access

TA timing advance

TAG timing advance group

TTI transmission time intervalTB transport block

UL uplink

UE user equipment

URLLC ultra-reliable low-latency communications

VHDL VHSIC hardware description language

CU central unit

DU distributed unit

Fs-C Fs-control plane

Fs-U Fs-user plane

gNB next generation node B

NGC next generation core

NG CP next generation control plane core

NG-C NG-control plane

NG-U NG-user plane

NR new radio

NR MAC new radio MAC

NR PHY new radio physical

NR PDCP new radio PDCP

NR RLC new radio RLC

NR RRC new radio RRC

NSSAI network slice selection assistance information

PLMN public land mobile network

UPGW user plane gateway

Xn-C Xn-control plane

Xn-U Xn-user plane

Xx-C Xx-control plane

Xx-U Xx-user plane

Example embodiments of the invention may be implemented using variousphysical layer modulation and transmission mechanisms. Exampletransmission mechanisms may include, but are not limited to: CDMA, OFDM,TDMA, Wavelet technologies, and/or the like. Hybrid transmissionmechanisms such as TDMA/CDMA, and OFDM/CDMA may also be employed.Various modulation schemes may be applied for signal transmission in thephysical layer. Examples of modulation schemes include, but are notlimited to: phase, amplitude, code, a combination of these, and/or thelike. An example radio transmission method may implement QAM using BPSK,QPSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM, 256-QAM, and/or the like. Physical radiotransmission may be enhanced by dynamically or semi-dynamically changingthe modulation and coding scheme depending on transmission requirementsand radio conditions.

FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting example sets of OFDM subcarriers as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in thisexample, arrow(s) in the diagram may depict a subcarrier in amulticarrier OFDM system. The OFDM system may use technology such asOFDM technology, DFTS-OFDM, SC-OFDM technology, or the like. Forexample, arrow 101 shows a subcarrier transmitting information symbols.FIG. 1 is for illustration purposes, and a typical multicarrier OFDMsystem may include more subcarriers in a carrier. For example, thenumber of subcarriers in a carrier may be in the range of 10 to 10,000subcarriers. FIG. 1 shows two guard bands 106 and 107 in a transmissionband. As illustrated in FIG. 1, guard band 106 is between subcarriers103 and subcarriers 104. The example set of subcarriers A 102 includessubcarriers 103 and subcarriers 104. FIG. 1 also illustrates an exampleset of subcarriers B 105. As illustrated, there is no guard band betweenany two subcarriers in the example set of subcarriers B 105. Carriers ina multicarrier OFDM communication system may be contiguous carriers,non-contiguous carriers, or a combination of both contiguous andnon-contiguous carriers.

FIG. 2 is a diagram depicting an example transmission time and receptiontime for two carriers as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentinvention. A multicarrier OFDM communication system may include one ormore carriers, for example, ranging from 1 to 10 carriers. Carrier A 204and carrier B 205 may have the same or different timing structures.Although FIG. 2 shows two synchronized carriers, carrier A 204 andcarrier B 205 may or may not be synchronized with each other. Differentradio frame structures may be supported for FDD and TDD duplexmechanisms. FIG. 2 shows an example FDD frame timing. Downlink anduplink transmissions may be organized into radio frames 201. In thisexample, radio frame duration is 10 msec. Other frame durations, forexample, in the range of 1 to 100 msec may also be supported. In thisexample, each 10 ms radio frame 201 may be divided into ten equallysized subframes 202. Other subframe durations such as including 0.5msec, 1 msec, 2 msec, and 5 msec may also be supported. Subframe(s) mayconsist of two or more slots (e.g. slots 206 and 207). For the exampleof FDD, 10 subframes may be available for downlink transmission and 10subframes may be available for uplink transmissions in each 10 msinterval. Uplink and downlink transmissions may be separated in thefrequency domain. A slot may be 7 or 14 OFDM symbols for the samesubcarrier spacing of up to 60 kHz with normal CP. A slot may be 14 OFDMsymbols for the same subcarrier spacing higher than 60 kHz with normalCP. A slot may contain all downlink, all uplink, or a downlink part andan uplink part and/or alike. Slot aggregation may be supported, e.g.,data transmission may be scheduled to span one or multiple slots. In anexample, a mini-slot may start at an OFDM symbol in a subframe. Amini-slot may have a duration of one or more OFDM symbols. Slot(s) mayinclude a plurality of OFDM symbols 203. The number of OFDM symbols 203in a slot 206 may depend on the cyclic prefix length and subcarrierspacing.

FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting OFDM radio resources as per an aspect ofan embodiment of the present invention. The resource grid structure intime 304 and frequency 305 is illustrated in FIG. 3. The quantity ofdownlink subcarriers or RBs may depend, at least in part, on thedownlink transmission bandwidth 306 configured in the cell. The smallestradio resource unit may be called a resource element (e.g. 301).Resource elements may be grouped into resource blocks (e.g. 302).Resource blocks may be grouped into larger radio resources calledResource Block Groups (RBG) (e.g. 303). The transmitted signal in slot206 may be described by one or several resource grids of a plurality ofsubcarriers and a plurality of OFDM symbols. Resource blocks may be usedto describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resourceelements. Other pre-defined groupings of physical resource elements maybe implemented in the system depending on the radio technology. Forexample, 24 subcarriers may be grouped as a radio block for a durationof 5 msec. In an illustrative example, a resource block may correspondto one slot in the time domain and 180 kHz in the frequency domain (for15 KHz subcarrier bandwidth and 12 subcarriers).

In an example embodiment, multiple numerologies may be supported. In anexample, a numerology may be derived by scaling a basic subcarrierspacing by an integer N. In an example, scalable numerology may allow atleast from 15 kHz to 480 kHz subcarrier spacing. The numerology with 15kHz and scaled numerology with different subcarrier spacing with thesame CP overhead may align at a symbol boundary every 1 ms in a NRcarrier.

FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG. 5C and FIG. 5D are example diagrams for uplinkand downlink signal transmission as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention. FIG. 5A shows an example uplink physical channel.The baseband signal representing the physical uplink shared channel mayperform the following processes. These functions are illustrated asexamples and it is anticipated that other mechanisms may be implementedin various embodiments. The functions may comprise scrambling,modulation of scrambled bits to generate complex-valued symbols, mappingof the complex-valued modulation symbols onto one or severaltransmission layers, transform precoding to generate complex-valuedsymbols, precoding of the complex-valued symbols, mapping of precodedcomplex-valued symbols to resource elements, generation ofcomplex-valued time-domain DFTS-OFDM/SC-FDMA signal for each antennaport, and/or the like.

Example modulation and up-conversion to the carrier frequency of thecomplex-valued DFTS-OFDM/SC-FDMA baseband signal for each antenna portand/or the complex-valued PRACH baseband signal is shown in FIG. 5B.Filtering may be employed prior to transmission.

An example structure for Downlink Transmissions is shown in FIG. 5C. Thebaseband signal representing a downlink physical channel may perform thefollowing processes. These functions are illustrated as examples and itis anticipated that other mechanisms may be implemented in variousembodiments. The functions include scrambling of coded bits in each ofthe codewords to be transmitted on a physical channel; modulation ofscrambled bits to generate complex-valued modulation symbols; mapping ofthe complex-valued modulation symbols onto one or several transmissionlayers; precoding of the complex-valued modulation symbols on each layerfor transmission on the antenna ports; mapping of complex-valuedmodulation symbols for each antenna port to resource elements;generation of complex-valued time-domain OFDM signal for each antennaport, and/or the like.

Example modulation and up-conversion to the carrier frequency of thecomplex-valued OFDM baseband signal for each antenna port is shown inFIG. 5D. Filtering may be employed prior to transmission.

FIG. 4 is an example block diagram of a base station 401 and a wirelessdevice 406, as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.A communication network 400 may include at least one base station 401and at least one wireless device 406. The base station 401 may includeat least one communication interface 402, at least one processor 403,and at least one set of program code instructions 405 stored innon-transitory memory 404 and executable by the at least one processor403. The wireless device 406 may include at least one communicationinterface 407, at least one processor 408, and at least one set ofprogram code instructions 410 stored in non-transitory memory 409 andexecutable by the at least one processor 408. Communication interface402 in base station 401 may be configured to engage in communicationwith communication interface 407 in wireless device 406 via acommunication path that includes at least one wireless link 411.Wireless link 411 may be a bi-directional link. Communication interface407 in wireless device 406 may also be configured to engage in acommunication with communication interface 402 in base station 401. Basestation 401 and wireless device 406 may be configured to send andreceive data over wireless link 411 using multiple frequency carriers.According to some of the various aspects of embodiments, transceiver(s)may be employed. A transceiver is a device that includes both atransmitter and receiver. Transceivers may be employed in devices suchas wireless devices, base stations, relay nodes, and/or the like.Example embodiments for radio technology implemented in communicationinterface 402, 407 and wireless link 411 are illustrated are FIG. 1,FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 5, and associated text.

An interface may be a hardware interface, a firmware interface, asoftware interface, and/or a combination thereof. The hardware interfacemay include connectors, wires, electronic devices such as drivers,amplifiers, and/or the like. A software interface may include codestored in a memory device to implement protocol(s), protocol layers,communication drivers, device drivers, combinations thereof, and/or thelike. A firmware interface may include a combination of embeddedhardware and code stored in and/or in communication with a memory deviceto implement connections, electronic device operations, protocol(s),protocol layers, communication drivers, device drivers, hardwareoperations, combinations thereof, and/or the like.

The term configured may relate to the capacity of a device whether thedevice is in an operational or non-operational state. Configured mayalso refer to specific settings in a device that effect the operationalcharacteristics of the device whether the device is in an operational ornon-operational state. In other words, the hardware, software, firmware,registers, memory values, and/or the like may be “configured” within adevice, whether the device is in an operational or nonoperational state,to provide the device with specific characteristics. Terms such as “acontrol message to cause in a device” may mean that a control messagehas parameters that may be used to configure specific characteristics inthe device, whether the device is in an operational or non-operationalstate.

According to some of the various aspects of embodiments, a 5G networkmay include a multitude of base stations, providing a user plane NRPDCP/NR RLC/NR MAC/NR PHY and control plane (NR RRC) protocolterminations towards the wireless device. The base station(s) may beinterconnected with other base station(s) (e.g. employing an Xninterface). The base stations may also be connected employing, forexample, an NG interface to an NGC. FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B are examplediagrams for interfaces between a 5G core network (e.g. NGC) and basestations (e.g. gNB and eLTE eNB) as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention. For example, the base stations may beinterconnected to the NGC control plane (e.g. NG CP) employing the NG-Cinterface and to the NGC user plane (e.g. UPGW) employing the NG-Uinterface. The NG interface may support a many-to-many relation between5G core networks and base stations.

A base station may include many sectors for example: 1, 2, 3, 4, or 6sectors. A base station may include many cells, for example, rangingfrom 1 to 50 cells or more. A cell may be categorized, for example, as aprimary cell or secondary cell. At RRC connectionestablishment/re-establishment/handover, one serving cell may providethe NAS (non-access stratum) mobility information (e.g. TAI), and at RRCconnection re-establishment/handover, one serving cell may provide thesecurity input. This cell may be referred to as the Primary Cell(PCell). In the downlink, the carrier corresponding to the PCell may bethe Downlink Primary Component Carrier (DL PCC), while in the uplink, itmay be the Uplink Primary Component Carrier (UL PCC). Depending onwireless device capabilities, Secondary Cells (SCells) may be configuredto form together with the PCell a set of serving cells. In the downlink,the carrier corresponding to an SCell may be a Downlink SecondaryComponent Carrier (DL SCC), while in the uplink, it may be an UplinkSecondary Component Carrier (UL SCC). An SCell may or may not have anuplink carrier.

A cell, comprising a downlink carrier and optionally an uplink carrier,may be assigned a physical cell ID and a cell index. A carrier (downlinkor uplink) may belong to only one cell. The cell ID or Cell index mayalso identify the downlink carrier or uplink carrier of the cell(depending on the context it is used). In the specification, cell ID maybe equally referred to a carrier ID, and cell index may be referred tocarrier index. In implementation, the physical cell ID or cell index maybe assigned to a cell. A cell ID may be determined using asynchronization signal transmitted on a downlink carrier. A cell indexmay be determined using RRC messages. For example, when thespecification refers to a first physical cell ID for a first downlinkcarrier, the specification may mean the first physical cell ID is for acell comprising the first downlink carrier. The same concept may applyto, for example, carrier activation. When the specification indicatesthat a first carrier is activated, the specification may equally meanthat the cell comprising the first carrier is activated.

Embodiments may be configured to operate as needed. The disclosedmechanism may be performed when certain criteria are met, for example,in a wireless device, a base station, a radio environment, a network, acombination of the above, and/or the like. Example criteria may bebased, at least in part, on for example, traffic load, initial systemset up, packet sizes, traffic characteristics, a combination of theabove, and/or the like. When the one or more criteria are met, variousexample embodiments may be applied. Therefore, it may be possible toimplement example embodiments that selectively implement disclosedprotocols.

A base station may communicate with a mix of wireless devices. Wirelessdevices may support multiple technologies, and/or multiple releases ofthe same technology. Wireless devices may have some specificcapability(ies) depending on its wireless device category and/orcapability(ies). A base station may comprise multiple sectors. When thisdisclosure refers to a base station communicating with a plurality ofwireless devices, this disclosure may refer to a subset of the totalwireless devices in a coverage area. This disclosure may refer to, forexample, a plurality of wireless devices of a given LTE or 5G releasewith a given capability and in a given sector of the base station. Theplurality of wireless devices in this disclosure may refer to a selectedplurality of wireless devices, and/or a subset of total wireless devicesin a coverage area which perform according to disclosed methods, and/orthe like. There may be a plurality of wireless devices in a coveragearea that may not comply with the disclosed methods, for example,because those wireless devices perform based on older releases of LTE or5G technology.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are example diagrams for protocol structure with CAand multi-connectivity as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentinvention. NR may support multi-connectivity operation whereby amultiple RX/TX UE in RRC_CONNECTED may be configured to utilize radioresources provided by multiple schedulers located in multiple gNBsconnected via a non-ideal or ideal backhaul over the Xn interface. gNBsinvolved in multi-connectivity for a certain UE may assume two differentroles: a gNB may either act as a master gNB or as a secondary gNB. Inmulti-connectivity, a UE may be connected to one master gNB and one ormore secondary gNBs. FIG. 7 illustrates one example structure for the UEside MAC entities when a Master Cell Group (MCG) and a Secondary CellGroup (SCG) are configured, and it may not restrict implementation.Media Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) reception is not shown in thisfigure for simplicity.

In multi-connectivity, the radio protocol architecture that a particularbearer uses may depend on how the bearer is setup. Three alternativesmay exist, an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer and a split bearer as shown inFIG. 6. NR RRC may be located in master gNB and SRBs may be configuredas a MCG bearer type and may use the radio resources of the master gNB.Multi-connectivity may also be described as having at least one bearerconfigured to use radio resources provided by the secondary gNB.Multi-connectivity may or may not be configured/implemented in exampleembodiments of the invention.

In the case of multi-connectivity, the UE may be configured withmultiple NR MAC entities: one NR MAC entity for master gNB, and other NRMAC entities for secondary gNBs. In multi-connectivity, the configuredset of serving cells for a UE may comprise of two subsets: the MasterCell Group (MCG) containing the serving cells of the master gNB, and theSecondary Cell Groups (SCGs) containing the serving cells of thesecondary gNBs. For a SCG, one or more of the following may be applied:at least one cell in the SCG has a configured UL CC and one of them,named PSCell (or PCell of SCG, or sometimes called PCell), is configuredwith PUCCH resources; when the SCG is configured, there may be at leastone SCG bearer or one Split bearer; upon detection of a physical layerproblem or a random access problem on a PSCell, or the maximum number ofNR RLC retransmissions has been reached associated with the SCG, or upondetection of an access problem on a PSCell during a SCG addition or aSCG change: a RRC connection re-establishment procedure may not betriggered, UL transmissions towards cells of the SCG are stopped, amaster gNB may be informed by the UE of a SCG failure type, for splitbearer, the DL data transfer over the master gNB is maintained; the NRRLC AM bearer may be configured for the split bearer; like PCell, PSCellmay not be de-activated; PSCell may be changed with a SCG change (e.g.with security key change and a RACH procedure); and/or a direct bearertype change between a Split bearer and a SCG bearer or simultaneousconfiguration of a SCG and a Split bearer may or may not supported.

With respect to the interaction between a master gNB and secondary gNBsfor multi-connectivity, one or more of the following principles may beapplied: the master gNB may maintain the RRM measurement configurationof the UE and may, (e.g., based on received measurement reports ortraffic conditions or bearer types), decide to ask a secondary gNB toprovide additional resources (serving cells) for a UE; upon receiving arequest from the master gNB, a secondary gNB may create a container thatmay result in the configuration of additional serving cells for the UE(or decide that it has no resource available to do so); for UEcapability coordination, the master gNB may provide (part of) the ASconfiguration and the UE capabilities to the secondary gNB; the mastergNB and the secondary gNB may exchange information about a UEconfiguration by employing of NR RRC containers (inter-node messages)carried in Xn messages; the secondary gNB may initiate a reconfigurationof its existing serving cells (e.g., PUCCH towards the secondary gNB);the secondary gNB may decide which cell is the PSCell within the SCG;the master gNB may or may not change the content of the NR RRCconfiguration provided by the secondary gNB; in the case of a SCGaddition and a SCG SCell addition, the master gNB may provide the latestmeasurement results for the SCG cell(s); both a master gNB and secondarygNBs may know the SFN and subframe offset of each other by OAM, (e.g.,for the purpose of DRX alignment and identification of a measurementgap). In an example, when adding a new SCG SCell, dedicated NR RRCsignaling may be used for sending required system information of thecell as for CA, except for the SFN acquired from a MIB of the PSCell ofa SCG.

In an example, serving cells may be grouped in a TA group (TAG). Servingcells in one TAG may use the same timing reference. For a given TAG,user equipment (UE) may use at least one downlink carrier as a timingreference. For a given TAG, a UE may synchronize uplink subframe andframe transmission timing of uplink carriers belonging to the same TAG.In an example, serving cells having an uplink to which the same TAapplies may correspond to serving cells hosted by the same receiver. AUE supporting multiple TAs may support two or more TA groups. One TAgroup may contain the PCell and may be called a primary TAG (pTAG). In amultiple TAG configuration, at least one TA group may not contain thePCell and may be called a secondary TAG (sTAG). In an example, carrierswithin the same TA group may use the same TA value and/or the sametiming reference. When DC is configured, cells belonging to a cell group(MCG or SCG) may be grouped into multiple TAGs including a pTAG and oneor more sTAGs.

FIG. 8 shows example TAG configurations as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present invention. In Example 1, pTAG comprises PCell,and an sTAG comprises SCell1. In Example 2, a pTAG comprises a PCell andSCell1, and an sTAG comprises SCell2 and SCell3. In Example 3, pTAGcomprises PCell and SCell1, and an sTAG1 includes SCell2 and SCell3, andsTAG2 comprises SCell4. Up to four TAGs may be supported in a cell group(MCG or SCG) and other example TAG configurations may also be provided.In various examples in this disclosure, example mechanisms are describedfor a pTAG and an sTAG. Some of the example mechanisms may be applied toconfigurations with multiple sTAGs.

In an example, an eNB may initiate an RA procedure via a PDCCH order foran activated SCell. This PDCCH order may be sent on a scheduling cell ofthis SCell. When cross carrier scheduling is configured for a cell, thescheduling cell may be different than the cell that is employed forpreamble transmission, and the PDCCH order may include an SCell index.At least a non-contention based RA procedure may be supported forSCell(s) assigned to sTAG(s).

FIG. 9 is an example message flow in a random access process in asecondary TAG as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentinvention. An eNB transmits an activation command 600 to activate anSCell. A preamble 602 (Msg1) may be sent by a UE in response to a PDCCHorder 601 on an SCell belonging to an sTAG. In an example embodiment,preamble transmission for SCells may be controlled by the network usingPDCCH format 1A. Msg2 message 603 (RAR: random access response) inresponse to the preamble transmission on the SCell may be addressed toRA-RNTI in a PCell common search space (CSS). Uplink packets 604 may betransmitted on the SCell in which the preamble was transmitted.

According to some of the various aspects of embodiments, initial timingalignment may be achieved through a random access procedure. This mayinvolve a UE transmitting a random access preamble and an eNB respondingwith an initial TA command NTA (amount of timing advance) within arandom access response window. The start of the random access preamblemay be aligned with the start of a corresponding uplink subframe at theUE assuming NTA=0. The eNB may estimate the uplink timing from therandom access preamble transmitted by the UE. The TA command may bederived by the eNB based on the estimation of the difference between thedesired UL timing and the actual UL timing. The UE may determine theinitial uplink transmission timing relative to the correspondingdownlink of the sTAG on which the preamble is transmitted.

The mapping of a serving cell to a TAG may be configured by a servingeNB with RRC signaling. The mechanism for TAG configuration andreconfiguration may be based on RRC signaling. According to some of thevarious aspects of embodiments, when an eNB performs an SCell additionconfiguration, the related TAG configuration may be configured for theSCell. In an example embodiment, an eNB may modify the TAG configurationof an SCell by removing (releasing) the SCell and adding(configuring) anew SCell (with the same physical cell ID and frequency) with an updatedTAG ID. The new SCell with the updated TAG ID may initially be inactivesubsequent to being assigned the updated TAG ID. The eNB may activatethe updated new SCell and start scheduling packets on the activatedSCell. In an example implementation, it may not be possible to changethe TAG associated with an SCell, but rather, the SCell may need to beremoved and a new SCell may need to be added with another TAG. Forexample, if there is a need to move an SCell from an sTAG to a pTAG, atleast one RRC message, for example, at least one RRC reconfigurationmessage, may be send to the UE to reconfigure TAG configurations byreleasing the SCell and then configuring the SCell as a part of the pTAG(when an SCell is added/configured without a TAG index, the SCell may beexplicitly assigned to the pTAG). The PCell may not change its TA groupand may be a member of the pTAG.

The purpose of an RRC connection reconfiguration procedure may be tomodify an RRC connection, (e.g. to establish, modify and/or release RBs,to perform handover, to setup, modify, and/or release measurements, toadd, modify, and/or release SCells). If the received RRC ConnectionReconfiguration message includes the sCellToReleaseList, the UE mayperform an SCell release. If the received RRC Connection Reconfigurationmessage includes the sCellToAddModList, the UE may perform SCelladditions or modification.

In LTE Release-10 and Release-11 CA, a PUCCH is only transmitted on thePCell (PSCell) to an eNB. In LTE-Release 12 and earlier, a UE maytransmit PUCCH information on one cell (PCell or PSCell) to a given eNB.

As the number of CA capable UEs and also the number of aggregatedcarriers increase, the number of PUCCHs and also the PUCCH payload sizemay increase. Accommodating the PUCCH transmissions on the PCell maylead to a high PUCCH load on the PCell. A PUCCH on an SCell may beintroduced to offload the PUCCH resource from the PCell. More than onePUCCH may be configured for example, a PUCCH on a PCell and anotherPUCCH on an SCell. In the example embodiments, one, two or more cellsmay be configured with PUCCH resources for transmitting CSI/ACK/NACK toa base station. Cells may be grouped into multiple PUCCH groups, and oneor more cell within a group may be configured with a PUCCH. In anexample configuration, one SCell may belong to one PUCCH group. SCellswith a configured PUCCH transmitted to a base station may be called aPUCCH SCell, and a cell group with a common PUCCH resource transmittedto the same base station may be called a PUCCH group.

In an example embodiment, a MAC entity may have a configurable timertimeAlignmentTimer per TAG. The timeAlignmentTimer may be used tocontrol how long the MAC entity considers the Serving Cells belonging tothe associated TAG to be uplink time aligned. The MAC entity may, when aTiming Advance Command MAC control element is received, apply the TimingAdvance Command for the indicated TAG; start or restart thetimeAlignmentTimer associated with the indicated TAG. The MAC entitymay, when a Timing Advance Command is received in a Random AccessResponse message for a serving cell belonging to a TAG and/or if theRandom Access Preamble was not selected by the MAC entity, apply theTiming Advance Command for this TAG and start or restart thetimeAlignmentTimer associated with this TAG. Otherwise, if thetimeAlignmentTimer associated with this TAG is not running, the TimingAdvance Command for this TAG may be applied and the timeAlignmentTimerassociated with this TAG started. When the contention resolution isconsidered not successful, a timeAlignmentTimer associated with this TAGmay be stopped. Otherwise, the MAC entity may ignore the received TimingAdvance Command.

In example embodiments, a timer is running once it is started, until itis stopped or until it expires; otherwise it may not be running. A timercan be started if it is not running or restarted if it is running. Forexample, a timer may be started or restarted from its initial value.

Example embodiments of the invention may enable operation ofmulti-carrier communications. Other example embodiments may comprise anon-transitory tangible computer readable media comprising instructionsexecutable by one or more processors to cause operation of multi-carriercommunications. Yet other example embodiments may comprise an article ofmanufacture that comprises a non-transitory tangible computer readablemachine-accessible medium having instructions encoded thereon forenabling programmable hardware to cause a device (e.g. wirelesscommunicator, UE, base station, etc.) to enable operation ofmulti-carrier communications. The device may include processors, memory,interfaces, and/or the like. Other example embodiments may comprisecommunication networks comprising devices such as base stations,wireless devices (or user equipment: UE), servers, switches, antennas,and/or the like.

FIG. 11A, FIG. 11B, FIG. 11C, FIG. 11D, FIG. 11E, and FIG. 11F areexample diagrams for architectures of tight interworking between 5G RANand LTE RAN as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.The tight interworking may enable a multiple RX/TX UE in RRC_CONNECTEDto be configured to utilize radio resources provided by two schedulerslocated in two base stations (e.g. (e)LTE eNB and gNB) connected via anon-ideal or ideal backhaul over the Xx interface between LTE eNB andgNB or the Xn interface between eLTE eNB and gNB. Base stations involvedin tight interworking for a certain UE may assume two different roles: abase station may either act as a master base station or as a secondarybase station. In tight interworking, a UE may be connected to one masterbase station and one secondary base station. Mechanisms implemented intight interworking may be extended to cover more than two base stations.

In FIG. 11A and FIG. 11B, a master base station may be an LTE eNB, whichmay be connected to EPC nodes (e.g. to an MME via the S1-C interface andto an S-GW via the S1-U interface), and a secondary base station may bea gNB, which may be a non-standalone node having a control planeconnection via an Xx-C interface to an LTE eNB. In the tightinterworking architecture of FIG. 11A, a user plane for a gNB may beconnected to an S-GW through an LTE eNB via an Xx-U interface betweenLTE eNB and gNB and an S1-U interface between LTE eNB and S-GW. In thearchitecture of FIG. 11B, a user plane for a gNB may be connecteddirectly to an S-GW via an S1-U interface between gNB and S-GW.

In FIG. 11C and FIG. 11D, a master base station may be a gNB, which maybe connected to NGC nodes (e.g. to a control plane core node via theNG-C interface and to a user plane core node via the NG-U interface),and a secondary base station may be an eLTE eNB, which may be anon-standalone node having a control plane connection via an Xn-Cinterface to a gNB. In the tight interworking architecture of FIG. 11C,a user plane for an eLTE eNB may be connected to a user plane core nodethrough a gNB via an Xn-U interface between eLTE eNB and gNB and an NG-Uinterface between gNB and user plane core node. In the architecture ofFIG. 11D, a user plane for an eLTE eNB may be connected directly to auser plane core node via an NG-U interface between eLTE eNB and userplane core node.

In FIG. 11E and FIG. 11F, a master base station may be an eLTE eNB,which may be connected to NGC nodes (e.g. to a control plane core nodevia the NG-C interface and to a user plane core node via the NG-Uinterface), and a secondary base station may be a gNB, which may be anon-standalone node having a control plane connection via an Xn-Cinterface to an eLTE eNB. In the tight interworking architecture of FIG.11E, a user plane for a gNB may be connected to a user plane core nodethrough an eLTE eNB via an Xn-U interface between eLTE eNB and gNB andan NG-U interface between eLTE eNB and user plane core node. In thearchitecture of FIG. 11F, a user plane for a gNB may be connecteddirectly to a user plane core node via an NG-U interface between gNB anduser plane core node.

FIG. 12A, FIG. 12B, and FIG. 12C are example diagrams for radio protocolstructures of tight interworking bearers as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 12A, an LTE eNB may be amaster base station, and a gNB may be a secondary base station. In FIG.12B, a gNB may be a master base station, and an eLTE eNB may be asecondary base station. In FIG. 12C, an eLTE eNB may be a master basestation, and a gNB may be a secondary base station. In 5G network, theradio protocol architecture that a particular bearer uses may depend onhow the bearer is setup. Three alternatives may exist, an MCG bearer, anSCG bearer, and a split bearer as shown in FIG. 12A, FIG. 12B, and FIG.12C. NR RRC may be located in master base station, and SRBs may beconfigured as an MCG bearer type and may use the radio resources of themaster base station. Tight interworking may also be described as havingat least one bearer configured to use radio resources provided by thesecondary base station. Tight interworking may or may not beconfigured/implemented in example embodiments of the invention.

In the case of tight interworking, the UE may be configured with two MACentities: one MAC entity for master base station, and one MAC entity forsecondary base station. In tight interworking, the configured set ofserving cells for a UE may comprise of two subsets: the Master CellGroup (MCG) containing the serving cells of the master base station, andthe Secondary Cell Group (SCG) containing the serving cells of thesecondary base station. For a SCG, one or more of the following may beapplied: at least one cell in the SCG has a configured UL CC and one ofthem, named PSCell (or PCell of SCG, or sometimes called PCell), isconfigured with PUCCH resources; when the SCG is configured, there maybe at least one SCG bearer or one split bearer; upon detection of aphysical layer problem or a random access problem on a PSCell, or themaximum number of (NR) RLC retransmissions has been reached associatedwith the SCG, or upon detection of an access problem on a PSCell duringa SCG addition or a SCG change: a RRC connection re-establishmentprocedure may not be triggered, UL transmissions towards cells of theSCG are stopped, a master base station may be informed by the UE of aSCG failure type, for split bearer, the DL data transfer over the masterbase station is maintained; the RLC AM bearer may be configured for thesplit bearer; like PCell, PSCell may not be de-activated; PSCell may bechanged with a SCG change (e.g. with security key change and a RACHprocedure); and/or neither a direct bearer type change between a Splitbearer and a SCG bearer nor simultaneous configuration of a SCG and aSplit bearer are supported.

With respect to the interaction between a master base station and asecondary base station, one or more of the following principles may beapplied: the master base station may maintain the RRM measurementconfiguration of the UE and may, (e.g., based on received measurementreports, traffic conditions, or bearer types), decide to ask a secondarybase station to provide additional resources (serving cells) for a UE;upon receiving a request from the master base station, a secondary basestation may create a container that may result in the configuration ofadditional serving cells for the UE (or decide that it has no resourceavailable to do so); for UE capability coordination, the master basestation may provide (part of) the AS configuration and the UEcapabilities to the secondary base station; the master base station andthe secondary base station may exchange information about a UEconfiguration by employing of RRC containers (inter-node messages)carried in Xn or Xx messages; the secondary base station may initiate areconfiguration of its existing serving cells (e.g., PUCCH towards thesecondary base station); the secondary base station may decide whichcell is the PSCell within the SCG; the master base station may notchange the content of the RRC configuration provided by the secondarybase station; in the case of a SCG addition and a SCG SCell addition,the master base station may provide the latest measurement results forthe SCG cell(s); both a master base station and a secondary base stationmay know the SFN and subframe offset of each other by OAM, (e.g., forthe purpose of DRX alignment and identification of a measurement gap).In an example, when adding a new SCG SCell, dedicated RRC signaling maybe used for sending required system information of the cell as for CA,except for the SFN acquired from a MIB of the PSCell of a SCG.

FIG. 13A and FIG. 13B are example diagrams for gNB deployment scenariosas per an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention. In thenon-centralized deployment scenario in FIG. 13A, the full protocol stack(e.g. NR RRC, NR PDCP, NR RLC, NR MAC, and NR PHY) may be supported atone node. In the centralized deployment scenario in FIG. 13B, upperlayers of gNB may be located in a Central Unit (CU), and lower layers ofgNB may be located in Distributed Units (DU). The CU-DU interface (e.g.Fs interface) connecting CU and DU may be ideal or non-ideal. Fs-C mayprovide a control plane connection over Fs interface, and Fs-U mayprovide a user plane connection over Fs interface. In the centralizeddeployment, different functional split options between CU and DUs may bepossible by locating different protocol layers (RAN functions) in CU andDU. The functional split may support flexibility to move RAN functionsbetween CU and DU depending on service requirements and/or networkenvironments. The functional split option may change during operationafter Fs interface setup procedure, or may change only in Fs setupprocedure (i.e. static during operation after Fs setup procedure).

FIG. 14 is an example diagram for different functional split optionexamples of the centralized gNB deployment scenario as per an aspect ofan embodiment of the present invention. In the split option example 1,an NR RRC may be in CU, and NR PDCP, NR RLC, NR MAC, NR PHY, and RF maybe in DU. In the split option example 2, an NR RRC and NR PDCP may be inCU, and NR RLC, NR MAC, NR PHY, and RF may be in DU. In the split optionexample 3, an NR RRC, NR PDCP, and partial function of NR RLC may be inCU, and the other partial function of NR RLC, NR MAC, NR PHY, and RF maybe in DU. In the split option example 4, an NR RRC, NR PDCP, and NR RLCmay be in CU, and NR MAC, NR PHY, and RF may be in DU. In the splitoption example 5, an NR RRC, NR PDCP, NR RLC, and partial function of NRMAC may be in CU, and the other partial function of NR MAC, NR PHY, andRF may be in DU. In the split option example 6, an NR RRC, NR PDCP, NRRLC, and NR MAC may be in CU, and NR PHY and RF may be in DU. In thesplit option example 7, an NR RRC, NR PDCP, NR RLC, NR MAC, and partialfunction of NR PHY may be in CU, and the other partial function of NRPHY and RF may be in DU. In the split option example 8, an NR RRC, NRPDCP, NR RLC, NR MAC, and NR PHY may be in CU, and RF may be in DU.

The functional split may be configured per CU, per DU, per UE, perbearer, per slice, or with other granularities. In per CU split, a CUmay have a fixed split, and DUs may be configured to match the splitoption of CU. In per DU split, each DU may be configured with adifferent split, and a CU may provide different split options fordifferent DUs. In per UE split, a gNB (CU and DU) may provide differentsplit options for different UEs. In per bearer split, different splitoptions may be utilized for different bearer types. In per slice splice,different split options may be applied for different slices.

In an example embodiment, the new radio access network (new RAN) maysupport different network slices, which may allow differentiatedtreatment customized to support different service requirements with endto end scope. The new RAN may provide a differentiated handling oftraffic for different network slices that may be pre-configured, and mayallow a single RAN node to support multiple slices. The new RAN maysupport selection of a RAN part for a given network slice, by one ormore slice ID(s) or NSSAI(s) provided by a UE or a NGC (e.g. NG CP). Theslice ID(s) or NSSAI(s) may identify one or more of pre-configurednetwork slices in a PLMN. For initial attach, a UE may provide a sliceID and/or an NSSAI, and a RAN node (e.g. gNB) may use the slice ID orthe NSSAI for routing an initial NAS signaling to an NGC control planefunction (e.g. NG CP). If a UE does not provide any slice ID or NSSAI, aRAN node may send a NAS signaling to a default NGC control planefunction. For subsequent accesses, the UE may provide a temporary ID fora slice identification, which may be assigned by the NGC control planefunction, to enable a RAN node to route the NAS message to a relevantNGC control plane function. The new RAN may support resource isolationbetween slices. The RAN resource isolation may be achieved by avoidingthat shortage of shared resources in one slice breaks a service levelagreement for another slice.

The amount of data traffic carried over cellular networks is expected toincrease for many years to come. The number of users/devices isincreasing and each user/device accesses an increasing number andvariety of services, e.g. video delivery, large files, images. Thisrequires not only high capacity in the network, but also provisioningvery high data rates to meet customers' expectations on interactivityand responsiveness. More spectrum is therefore needed for cellularoperators to meet the increasing demand. Considering user expectationsof high data rates along with seamless mobility, it is beneficial thatmore spectrum be made available for deploying macro cells as well assmall cells for cellular systems.

Striving to meet the market demands, there has been increasing interestfrom operators in deploying some complementary access utilizingunlicensed spectrum to meet the traffic growth. This is exemplified bythe large number of operator-deployed Wi-Fi networks and the 3GPPstandardization of LTE/WLAN interworking solutions. This interestindicates that unlicensed spectrum, when present, can be an effectivecomplement to licensed spectrum for cellular operators to helpaddressing the traffic explosion in some scenarios, such as hotspotareas. LAA offers an alternative for operators to make use of unlicensedspectrum while managing one radio network, thus offering newpossibilities for optimizing the network's efficiency.

In an example embodiment, Listen-before-talk (clear channel assessment)may be implemented for transmission in an LAA cell. In alisten-before-talk (LBT) procedure, equipment may apply a clear channelassessment (CCA) check before using the channel. For example, the CCAutilizes at least energy detection to determine the presence or absenceof other signals on a channel in order to determine if a channel isoccupied or clear, respectively. For example, European and Japaneseregulations mandate the usage of LBT in the unlicensed bands. Apart fromregulatory requirements, carrier sensing via LBT may be one way for fairsharing of the unlicensed spectrum.

In an example embodiment, discontinuous transmission on an unlicensedcarrier with limited maximum transmission duration may be enabled. Someof these functions may be supported by one or more signals to betransmitted from the beginning of a discontinuous LAA downlinktransmission. Channel reservation may be enabled by the transmission ofsignals, by an LAA node, after gaining channel access via a successfulLBT operation, so that other nodes that receive the transmitted signalwith energy above a certain threshold sense the channel to be occupied.Functions that may need to be supported by one or more signals for LAAoperation with discontinuous downlink transmission may include one ormore of the following: detection of the LAA downlink transmission(including cell identification) by UEs; time & frequency synchronizationof UEs.

In an example embodiment, DL LAA design may employ subframe boundaryalignment according to LTE-A carrier aggregation timing relationshipsacross serving cells aggregated by CA. This may not imply that the eNBtransmissions can start only at the subframe boundary. LAA may supporttransmitting PDSCH when not all OFDM symbols are available fortransmission in a subframe according to LBT. Delivery of necessarycontrol information for the PDSCH may also be supported.

LBT procedure may be employed for fair and friendly coexistence of LAAwith other operators and technologies operating in unlicensed spectrum.LBT procedures on a node attempting to transmit on a carrier inunlicensed spectrum require the node to perform a clear channelassessment to determine if the channel is free for use. An LBT proceduremay involve at least energy detection to determine if the channel isbeing used. For example, regulatory requirements in some regions, e.g.,in Europe, specify an energy detection threshold such that if a nodereceives energy greater than this threshold, the node assumes that thechannel is not free. While nodes may follow such regulatoryrequirements, a node may optionally use a lower threshold for energydetection than that specified by regulatory requirements. In an example,LAA may employ a mechanism to adaptively change the energy detectionthreshold, e.g., LAA may employ a mechanism to adaptively lower theenergy detection threshold from an upper bound. Adaptation mechanism maynot preclude static or semi-static setting of the threshold. In anexample Category 4 LBT mechanism or other type of LBT mechanisms may beimplemented.

Various example LBT mechanisms may be implemented. In an example, forsome signals, in some implementation scenarios, in some situations,and/or in some frequencies no LBT procedure may performed by thetransmitting entity. In an example, Category 2 (e.g. LBT without randomback-off) may be implemented. The duration of time that the channel issensed to be idle before the transmitting entity transmits may bedeterministic. In an example, Category 3 (e.g. LBT with random back-offwith a contention window of fixed size) may be implemented. The LBTprocedure may have the following procedure as one of its components. Thetransmitting entity may draw a random number N within a contentionwindow. The size of the contention window may be specified by theminimum and maximum value of N. The size of the contention window may befixed. The random number N may be employed in the LBT procedure todetermine the duration of time that the channel is sensed to be idlebefore the transmitting entity transmits on the channel. In an example,Category 4 (e.g. LBT with random back-off with a contention window ofvariable size) may be implemented. The transmitting entity may draw arandom number N within a contention window. The size of contentionwindow may be specified by the minimum and maximum value of N. Thetransmitting entity may vary the size of the contention window whendrawing the random number N. The random number N is used in the LBTprocedure to determine the duration of time that the channel is sensedto be idle before the transmitting entity transmits on the channel.

LAA may employ uplink LBT at the UE. The UL LBT scheme may be differentfrom the DL LBT scheme (e.g. by using different LBT mechanisms orparameters) for example, since the LAA UL is based on scheduled accesswhich affects a UE's channel contention opportunities. Otherconsiderations motivating a different UL LBT scheme include, but are notlimited to, multiplexing of multiple UEs in a single subframe.

In an example, a DL transmission burst may be a continuous transmissionfrom a DL transmitting node with no transmission immediately before orafter from the same node on the same CC. An UL transmission burst from aUE perspective may be a continuous transmission from a UE with notransmission immediately before or after from the same UE on the sameCC. In an example, UL transmission burst is defined from a UEperspective. In an example, an UL transmission burst may be defined froman eNB perspective. In an example, in case of an eNB operating DL+UL LAAover the same unlicensed carrier, DL transmission burst(s) and ULtransmission burst(s) on LAA may be scheduled in a TDM manner over thesame unlicensed carrier. For example, an instant in time may be part ofa DL transmission burst or an UL transmission burst.

In an example, a wireless device may receive one or more messagescomprising one or more radio resource configuration (RRC) messages fromone or more base stations (e.g., one or more NR gNBs and/or one or moreLTE eNBs and/or one or more eLTE eNBs, etc.). In an example, the one ormore messages may comprise configuration parameters for a plurality oflogical channels. In an example, the one or messages may comprise alogical channel identifier for each of the plurality of logicalchannels. In an example, the logical channel identifier may be one of aplurality of logical channel identifiers. In an example, the pluralityof logical channel identifiers may be pre-configured. In an example, thelogical channel identifier may be one of a plurality of consecutiveintegers.

In an example, the plurality of logical channels configured for awireless device may correspond to one or more bearers. In an example,there may be one-to-one mapping/correspondence between a bearer and alogical channel. In an example, there may be one-to-manymapping/correspondence between one or more bearers and one or morelogical channels. In an example, a bearer may be mapped to a pluralityof logical channels. In an example, data from a packet data convergenceprotocol (PDCP) entity corresponding to a bearer may be duplicated andmapped to a plurality of radio link control (RLC) entities and/orlogical channels. In an example, scheduling of the plurality of logicalchannels may be performed by a single medium access control (MAC)entity. In an example, scheduling of the plurality of logical channelsmay be performed by a two or more MAC entities. In an example, a logicalchannel may be scheduled by one of a plurality of MAC entities. In anexample, the one or more bearers may comprise one or more data radiobearers. In an example, the one or more bearers may comprise one or moresignaling radio bearers. In an example, the one or more bearers maycorrespond to one or more application and/or quality of service (QoS)requirements. In an example, one or more bearers may correspond toultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) applications and/orenhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) applications and/or massive machine tomachine communications (mMTC) applications.

In an example, a first logical channel of the plurality of logicalchannels may be mapped to one or more of a plurality of transmissiontime intervals (TTIs)/numerologies. In an example, a logical channel maynot be mapped to one or more of the plurality of TTIs/numerologies. Inan example, a logical channel corresponding to a URLLC bearer may bemapped to one or more first TTIs and a logical corresponding to an eMBBapplication may be mapped to one or more second TTIs, wherein the one ormore first TTIs may have shorter duration than the one or more secondTTIs. In an example, the plurality of TTIs/numerologies may bepre-configured at the wireless device. In an example, the one or moremessages may comprise the configuration parameters of the plurality ofTTIs/numerologies. In an example, a base station may transmit agrant/DCI to a wireless device, wherein the grant/DCI may compriseindication of a cell and/or a TTI/numerology that the wireless devicemay transmit data. In an example, a first field in the grant/DCI mayindicate the cell and a second field in the grant/DCI may indicate theTTI/numerology. In an example, a field in the grant/DCI may indicateboth the cell and the TTI/numerology.

In an example, the one or more messages may comprise a logical channelgroup identifier for one or more of the plurality of the logicalchannels. In an example, one or more of the plurality of logicalchannels may be assigned a logical channel group identifier n, 0≤n≤N(e.g., N=3, or 5, or 7, or 11 or 15, etc.). In an example, the one ormore of the plurality of logical channels with the logical channel groupidentifier may be mapped to a same one or more TTIs/numerologies. In anexample, the one or more of the plurality of logical channels with thelogical channel group identifier may only be mapped to a same one ormore TTIs/numerologies. In an example, the one more of the plurality oflogical channels may correspond to a same application and/or QoSrequirements. In an example, a first one or more logical channels may beassigned logical channel identifier(s) and logical channel groupidentifier(s) and a second one or more logical channels may be assignedlogical channel identifier(s). In an example, a logical channel groupmay comprise of one logical channel.

In an example, the one or more messages may comprise one or more firstfields indicating mapping between the plurality of logical channels andthe plurality of TTIs/numerologies and/or cells. In an example, the oneor more first fields may comprise a first value indicating a logicalchannel is mapped to one or more first TTI duration shorter than orequal to the first value. In an example, the one or more first fieldsmay comprise a second value indicating a logical channel is mapped toone or more second TTI durations longer than or equal to the secondvalue. In an example, the one or more first fields may comprise and/orindicate one or more TTIs/numerologies and/or cells that a logicalchannel is mapped to. In an example, the mapping may be indicated usingone or more bitmaps. In an example, if a value of 1 in a bitmapassociated with a logical channel may indicate that the logical channelis mapped to a corresponding TTI/numerology and/or cell. In an example,if a value of 0 in the bitmap associated with a logical channel mayindicate that the logical channel is not mapped to a correspondingTTI/numerology and/or cell. In an example, the one or more messages maycomprise configuration parameters for the plurality of the logicalchannels. In an example, the configuration parameters for a logicalchannel may comprise an associated bitmap for the logical channelwherein the bitmap may indicate the mapping between the logical channeland the plurality of TTIs/numerologies and/or cells.

In an example, a first logical channel may be assigned at least a firstlogical channel priority. In an example, the first logical channel maybe assigned one or more logical channel priorities for one or moreTTIs/numerologies. In an example, the first logical channel may beassigned a logical channel priority for each of the plurality ofTTIs/numerologies. In an example, a logical channel may be assigned alogical channel priority for each of one or more of the plurality ofTTIs/numerologies. In an example, a logical channel may be assigned alogical channel priority for each of one or more TTIs/numerologieswherein the logical channel is mapped to the each of the one or moreTTIs/numerologies. In an example, the one or more messages may compriseone or more second fields indicating priorities of a logical channel onone or more TTIs/numerologies. In an example, the one or more secondfields may comprise one or more sequences indicating priorities of alogical channel on one or more TTIs/numerologies. In an example, the oneor more second fields may comprise a plurality of sequences for theplurality of logical channels. A sequence corresponding to a logicalchannel may indicate the priorities of the logical channel on theplurality of TTIs/numerologies/cells or one or more of the plurality ofTTIs/numerologies/cells. In an example, the priorities may indicatemapping between a logical channel and one or more TTIs/numerologies. Inan example, a priority of a logical channel with a given value (e.g.,zero or minus infinity or a negative value) for a TTI/numerology mayindicate that the logical channel is not mapped to the TTI/numerology.In an example, sizes of the sequence may be variable. In an example, asize of a sequence associated with a logical channel may be a number ofTTIs/numerologies to which the logical channel is mapped. In an example,the sizes of the sequence may be fixed, e.g., the number ofTTIs/numerologies/cells.

In an example, a TTI/numerology for a grant (e.g., as indicated by thegrant/DCI) may not accept data from one or more logical channels. In anexample, the one or more logical channels may not be mapped to theTTI/numerology indicated in the grant. In an example, a logical channelof the one or more logical channels may be configured to be mapped toone or more TTIs/numerologies and the TTI/numerology for the grant maynot be among the one or more TTIs/numerologies. In an example, a logicalchannel of the one or more logical channels may be configured with amax-TTI parameter indicating that the logical channel may not be mappedto a TTI longer than max-TTI, and the grant may be for a TTI longer thanmax-TTI. In an example, a logical channel may be configured with amin-TTI parameter indicating that the logical channel may not be mappedto a TTI shorter than min-TTI, and the grant may be for a TTI shorterthan min-TTI. In an example, a logical channel may not be allowed to betransmitted on a cell and/or one or more numerologies and/or one or morenumerologies of a cell. In an example, a logical channel may containduplicate data and the logical channel may be restricted so that thelogical channel is not mapped to a cell/numerology. In an example, thelogical channel may not be configured with an upper layer configurationparameter laa-allowed and the cell may be an LAA cell.

In an example, a MAC entity and/or a multiplexing and assembly entity ofa MAC entity may perform a logical channel prioritization (LCP)procedure to allocate resources of one or more grants, indicated to awireless device by a base station using one or more DCIs, to one or morelogical channel. In an example, the timing between a grant/DCI receptiontime at the wireless device and transmission time may be dynamicallyindicated to the wireless device (e.g., at least using a parameter inthe grant/DCI). In an example, timing between a grant/DCI reception timeat the wireless device and transmission time may be fixed/preconfiguredand/or semi-statically configured. In an example, the LCP procedure forNR may consider the mapping of a logical channel to one or morenumerologies/TTIs, priorities of a logical channel on the one or morenumerologies/TTIs, the numerology/TTI indicated in a grant, etc. The LCPprocedure may multiplex data from one or more logical channels to form aMAC PDU. The amount of data from a logical channel included in a MAC PDUmay depend on the QoS parameters of a bearer and/or service associatedwith the logical channel, priority of the logical channel on thenumerology/TTI indicated in the grant, etc. In an example, one or moregrants may be processed jointly at a wireless device (e.g., resources ofthe one or more grants are allocated substantially at a same time). Inan example, one or more first grants of the one or more grants may begrouped into a grouped grant with capacity equal to sum of thecapacities of the one or more first grants and the resources of thegrouped grant may be allocated to one or more logical channels.

In an example embodiment, a UE configured for operation in bandwidthparts (BWPs) of a serving cell, may be configured by higher layers forthe serving cell a set of bandwidth parts (BWPs) for receptions by theUE (DL BWP set) or a set of BWPs for transmissions by the UE (UL BWPset). In an example, for a DL BWP or UL BWP in a set of DL BWPs or ULBWPs, respectively, the UE may be configured at least one of followingfor the serving cell: a subcarrier spacing for DL and/or UL provided byhigher layer parameter, a cyclic prefix for DL and/or UL provided byhigher layer parameter, a number of contiguous PRBs for DL and/or ULprovided by higher layer parameter, an offset of the first PRB for DLand/or UL in the number of contiguous PRBs relative to the first PRB byhigher layer, or Q control resource sets if the BWP is a DL BWP.

In an example embodiment, for each serving cell, higher layer signallingmay configure a UE with Q control resource sets. In an example, forcontrol resource set q, 0≤q<Q, the configuration may comprise at leastone of following: a first OFDM symbol provided by one or more higherlayer parameters, a number of consecutive OFDM symbols provided by oneor more higher layer parameters, a set of resource blocks provided byone or more higher layer parameters, a CCE-to-REG mapping provided byone or more higher layer parameters, a REG bundle size, in case ofinterleaved CCE-to-REG mapping, provided by one or more higher layerparameters, or antenna port quasi-collocation provided by higher layerparameter.

In an example embodiment, a control resource set may comprise a set ofCCEs numbered from 0 to N_(CCE,q)−1 where N_(CCE,q) may be the number ofCCEs in control resource set q.

In an example embodiment, the sets of PDCCH candidates that a UEmonitors may be defined in terms of PDCCH UE-specific search spaces. APDCCH UE-specific search space at CCE aggregation level L∈{1, 2, 4, 8}may be defined by a set of PDCCH candidates for CCE aggregation level L.In an example, for a DCI format, a UE may be configured per serving cellby one or more higher layer parameters a number of PDCCH candidates perCCE aggregation level L.

In an example embodiment, in non-DRX mode operation, a UE may monitorone or more PDCCH candidate in control resource set q according to aperiodicity of W_(PDCCH,q) symbols that may be configured by one or morehigher layer parameters for control resource set q.

In an example embodiment, if a UE is configured with higher layerparameter, e.g., cif-InSchedulingCell, the carrier indicator field valuemay correspond to cif-InSchedulingCell.

In an example embodiment, for the serving cell on which a UE may monitorone or more PDCCH candidate in a UE-specific search space, if the UE isnot configured with a carrier indicator field, the UE may monitor theone or more PDCCH candidates without carrier indicator field. In anexample, for the serving cell on which a UE may monitor one or morePDCCH candidates in a UE-specific search space, if a UE is configuredwith a carrier indicator field, the UE may monitor the one or more PDCCHcandidates with carrier indicator field.

In an example embodiment, a UE may not monitor one or more PDCCHcandidates on a secondary cell if the UE is configured to monitor one ormore PDCCH candidates with carrier indicator field corresponding to thatsecondary cell in another serving cell. For example, for the servingcell on which the UE may monitor one or more PDCCH candidates, the UEmay monitor the one or more PDCCH candidates at least for the sameserving cell.

In an example embodiment, a UE may receive PDCCH and PDSCH in a DL BWPaccording to a configured subcarrier spacing and CP length for the DLBWP. A UE may transmit PUCCH and PUSCH in an UL BWP according to aconfigured subcarrier spacing and CP length for the UL BWP.

In an example embodiment, a UE may be configured, by one or more higherlayer parameters, a DL BWP from a configured DL BWP set for DLreceptions. A UE may be configured by one or more higher layerparameters, an UL BWP from a configured UL BWP set for UL transmissions.If a DL BWP index field is configured in a DCI format scheduling PDSCHreception to a UE, the DL BWP index field value may indicate the DL BWP,from the configured DL BWP set, for DL receptions. If an UL-BWP indexfield is configured in a DCI format scheduling PUSCH transmission from aUE, the UL-BWP index field value may indicate the UL BWP, from theconfigured UL BWP set, for UL transmissions.

In an example embodiment, for TDD, a UE may expect that the centerfrequency for the DL BWP is same as the center frequency for the UL BWP.

In an example embodiment, a UE may not monitor PDCCH when the UEperforms measurements over a bandwidth that is not within the DL BWP forthe UE.

In an example embodiment, for an initial active DL BWP, UE may identifythe bandwidth and frequency of the initial active DL BWP in response toreceiving the NR-PBCH.

In an example embodiment, a bandwidth of an initial active DL BWP may beconfined within the UE minimum bandwidth for the given frequency band.For example, for flexible for DL information scheduling, the bandwidthmay be indicated in PBCH, and/or some bandwidth candidates may bepredefined. For example, x bits may be employed for indication. Thisenables.

In an example embodiment, a frequency location of initial active DL BWPmay be derived from the bandwidth and SS block, e.g. center frequency ofthe initial active DL BWP. For example, a SS block may have a frequencyoffset, as the edge of SS block PRB and data PRB boundary may not bealigned. Predefining the frequency location of SS block and initialactive DL BWP may reduce the PBCH payload size, additional bits are notneeded for indication of frequency location of initial active DL BWP.

In an example, for the paired UL BWP, the bandwidth and frequencylocation may be informed in RMSI.

In an example embodiment, for a UE, gNB may configure a set of BWPs byRRC.

The UE may transmit or receive in an active BWP from the configured BWPsin a given time instance. For example, an activation/deactivation of DLbandwidth part by means of timer for a UE to switch its active DLbandwidth part to a default DL bandwidth part may be supported. In thiscase, when the timer at the UE side expires, e.g. the UE has notreceived scheduling DCI for X ms, the UE may switch to the default DLBWP.

In an example, a new timer, e.g., BWPDeactivationTimer, may be definedto deactivate the original BWP and switch to the default BWP. TheBWPDeactivationTimer may be started when the original BWP is activatedby the activation/deactivation DCI. If PDCCH on the original BWP isreceived, a UE may restart the BWPDeactivationTimer associated with theoriginal BWP. For example, if the BWPDeactivationTimer expires, a UE maydeactivate the original BWP and switch to the default BWP, may stop theBWPDeactivationTimer for the original BWP, and may (or may not) flushall HARQ buffers associated with the original BWP.

In an example embodiment, gNB and UE may have different understanding ofthe starting of the timer since the UE may miss scheduling grants. In anexample, the UE may be triggered to switch to the default BWP, but gNBmay schedules the UE in the previous active BWP. For example, in thecase that the default BWP is nested within other BWPs, gNB may restrictthe location of the CORESET of BWP2 to be within BWP1 (e.g., the narrowband BWP1 may be the default BWP). Then the UE may receive CORESET andswitch back to BWP2 if it mistakenly switches to the default BWP.

In an example embodiment, for a case that the default BWP and the otherBWPs are not overlapped in frequency domain, it may not solve a missswitching problem by restricting the location of the CORESET. Forexample, the gNB may maintain a timer for a UE. When the timer expires,e.g. there is no data scheduling for the UE for Y ms, or gNB has notreceived feedback from the UE for Y′ ms, the UE may switch to thedefault BWP to send paging signal or re-schedule the UE in the defaultBWP.

In an example embodiment, gNB may not fix the default bandwidth part tobe the same as initial active bandwidth part it. Since the initialactive DL BWP may be the SS block bandwidth which is common to UEs inthe cell, the traffic load may be very heavy if many UEs fall back tosuch small bandwidth for data transmission. Configuring the UEs withdifferent default BWPs may help to balance the load in the systembandwidth.

In an example embodiment, on a Scell, there may be no initial active BWPsince the initial access is performed on the Pcell. For example, theinitially activated DL BWP and/or UL BWP when the Scell is activated maybe configured or reconfigured by RRC signaling. In an example, thedefault BWP of the Scell may also be configured or reconfigured by RRCsignaling. To strive for a unified design for both Pcell and Scell, thedefault BWP may be configured or reconfigured by the RRC signalling, andthe default BWP may be one of the configured BWPs of the UE.

In an example embodiment, gNB may configure UE-specific default DL BWPother than initial active BWP after RRC connection, e.g., for thepurpose of load balancing. The default BWP may support other connectedmode operations (besides operations supported by initial active BWP) forexample fall back and connected mode paging. In this case, the defaultBWP may comprise common search space, at least the search space neededfor monitoring the pre-emption indications. For example, for FDD, thedefault DL and UL BWPs may be independently configured to the UE.

In an example, the initial active DL/UL BWP may be set as default DL/ULBWP. In an example, a UE may return to default DL/UL BWP in some cases.For example, if a UE does not receive control for a long time, the UEmay fallback to default BWP.

In an example embodiment, gNB may configure UE with multiple BWPs. Forexample, the multiple BWPs may share at least one CORESET includingdefault BWP. For example, CORESET for RMSI may be shared for allconfigured BWP. Without going back to another BWP or default BWP, the UEmay receive control information via the common CORESET. To minimize theambiguity of resource allocation, the common CORESET may schedule datawithin only default BWP. For example, frequency region of default BWPmay belong to all the configured BWPs.

In an example embodiment, when the configured BWP is associated with adifferent numerology from default BWP, a semi-static pattern of BWPswitching to default BWP may be considered. For example, to check RMSIat least periodically, switching to default BWP may be considered. Thismay be necessary particularly when BWPs use different numerologies.

In an example embodiment, in terms of reconfiguration of default BWPfrom initial BWP, it may be considered for RRC connected UEs. For RRCIDLE UEs, default BWP may be same as initial BWP (or, RRC IDLE UE mayfallback to initial BWP regardless of default BWP). If a UE performsmeasurement based on SS block, reconfiguration of default BWP outside ofinitial BWP may become very inefficient due to frequent measurement gap.In this sense, if default BWP is reconfigured to outside of initial BWP,the following conditions may be satisfied: a UE is in CONNECTED mode,and a UE is not configured with SS block based measurement for bothserving cell and neighbor cells.

In an example embodiment, a DL BWP other than the initial active DL BWPmay be configured to a UE as the default DL BWP. The reconfiguring thedefault DL BWP may be due to load balancing and/or differentnumerologies employed for active DL BWP and initial active DL BWP.

In an example embodiment, a default BWP on Pcell may be an initialactive DL BWP for transmission of RMSI, comprising RMSI CORESET withCSS. The RMSI CORESET may comprise USS. The initial active/default BWPmay remain active BWP for the user also after UE becomes RRC connected.

In an example embodiment, for a paired spectrum, downlink and uplinkbandwidth parts may be independently activated while, for an unpairedspectrum downlink and uplink bandwidth parts are jointly activated. Incase of bandwidth adaptation, where the bandwidth of the active downlinkBWP may be changed, there may, in case of an unpaired spectrum, be ajoint activation of a new downlink BWP and new uplink BWP. For example,a new DL/UL BWP pair where the bandwidth of the uplink BWPs may be thesame (e.g., no change of uplink BWP).

In an example embodiment, there may be an association of DL BWP and ULBWP in RRC configuration. For example, in case of TDD, a UE may notretune the center frequency of channel BW between DL and UL. In thiscase, since the RF is shared between DL and UL in TDD, a UE may notretune the RF BW for every alternating DL-to-UL and UL-to-DL switching.

In an example embodiment, making an association between DL BWP and ULBWP may allow that one activation/deactivation command may switch bothDL and UL BWPs at once. Otherwise, separate BWP switching commands maybe necessary.

In an example embodiment, a DL BWP and a UL BWP may be configured to theUE separately. Pairing of the DL BWP and the UL BWP may imposeconstrains on the configured BWPs, e.g., the paired DL BWP and UL BWPmay be activated simultaneously. For example, gNB may indicate a DL BWPand a UL BWP to a UE for activation in a FDD system. In an example, gNBmay indicate a DL BWP and a UL BWP with the same center frequency to aUE for activation in a TDD system. Since the activation/deactivation ofthe BWP of the UE is instructed by gNB, no paring or association of theDL BWP and UL BWP may be mandatory even for TDD system. It may be up togNB implementation

In an example embodiment, the association between DL carrier and ULcarrier within a serving cell may be done by carrier association. Forexample, for TDD system, UE may not be expected to retune the centerfrequency of channel BW between DL and UL. To achieve it, an associationbetween DL BWP and UL BWP may be needed. For example, a way to associatethem may be to group DL BWP configurations with same center frequency asone set of DL BWPs and group UL BWP configurations with same centerfrequency as one set of UL BWPs. The set of DL BWPs may be associatedwith the set of UL BWPs sharing the same center frequency.

For an FDD serving cell, there may be no association between DL BWP andUL BWP if the association between DL carrier and UL carrier within aserving cell may be done by carrier association.

In an example embodiment, UE may identify a BWP identity from DCI tosimplify the indication process. The total number of bits for BWPidentity may depend on the number of bits that may be employed withinthe scheduling DCI (or switching DCI) and the UE minimum BW. The numberof BWPs may be determined by the UE supported minimum BW along with thenetwork maximum BW. For instance, in a similar way, the maximum numberof BWP may be determined by the network maximum BW and the UE minimumBW. In an example, if 400 MHz is the network maximum BW and 50 MHz isthe UE minimum BW, 8 BWP may be configured to the UE which means that 3bits may be needed within the DCI to indicate the BWP. In an example,such a split of the network BW depending on the UE minimum BW may beuseful for creating one or more default BWPs from the network side bydistributing UEs across the entire network BW, e.g., load balancingpurpose.

In an example embodiment, at least 2 DL and 2 UL BWP may be supported bya UE for a BWP adaption. For example, the total number of BWP supportedby a UE may be given by 2≤Number of DL/UL BWP≤floor (Network maximumBW/UE minimum DL/UL BW). For example, a maximum number of configuredBWPs may be 4 for DL and UL respectively. For example, a maximum numberof configured BWPs for UL may be 2.

In an example embodiment, different sets of BWPs may be configured fordifferent DCI formats/scheduling types respectively. For example, somelarger BWPs may be configured for non-slot-based scheduling than thatfor slot-based scheduling. If different DCI formats are defined forslot-based scheduling and non-slot-based scheduling, different BWPs maybe configured for different DCI formats. This may provide flexibilitybetween different scheduling types without increasing DCI overhead. The2-bit bitfield may be employed to indicate a BWP among the four for theDCI format. For example, 4 DL BWPs or [2 or 4] UL BWPs may be configuredfor each DCI formats. Same or different BWPs may be configured fordifferent DCI formats.

In an example embodiment, a required maximum number of configured BWPs(may be not comprising the initial BWP) may depend on the flexibilityneeded for a BWP functionality. For example, in the minimal case ofsupporting bandlimited devices, it may be sufficient to be able toconfigure one DL BWP and one UL BWP (or a single DL/UL BWP pair in caseof unpaired spectrum). For example, to support bandwidth adaptation,there may be a need to configure (at least) two DL BWPs and a singleuplink BWP for paired spectrum (or two DL/UL BWP pairs for unpairedspectrum). For example, to support dynamic load-balancing betweendifferent parts of the spectrum, there may be a need to configure one ormore DL (UL) BWPs that jointly cover different parts of the downlink(uplink) carrier. In an example, for dynamic load balancing, it may besufficient with two bandwidth parts. In addition to the two bandwidthparts, two additional bandwidth parts may be needed for bandwidthadaptation. For example, a Maximum number of configured BWPs may be fourDL BWPs and two UL BWPs for a paired spectrum. For example, a Maximumnumber of configured BWPs may be four DL/UL BWP pairs for an unpairedspectrum.

In an example embodiment, UE may monitor for RMSI and broadcast OSIwhich may be transmitted by the gNB within the common search space (CSS)on the PCell. In an example, RACH response and paging control monitoringon the PCell may be transmitted within the CSS. In an example, when a UEis allowed to be on an active BWP configured with UE-specific searchspace (USSS or USS), the UE may not monitor the common search space.

In an example, for a PCell, at least one of configured DL bandwidthparts may comprise at least one CORESET with a CSS type. For example, tomonitor RMSI and broadcast OSI, UE may periodically switch to the BWPcontaining the CSS. In an example, the UE may periodically switch to theBWP containing the CSS for RACH response and paging control monitoringon the PCell.

In an example, if BWP switching to monitor the CSS happens frequently,it may result in increasing overhead. In an example, the overhead due tothe CSS monitoring may depends on overlapping in frequency between anytwo BWPs. In an example, in a nested BWP configuration where one BWP isa subset of another BWP, the same CORESET configuration may be employedacross the BWPs. In this case, unless reconfigured otherwise, a defaultBWP may be the one containing the CSS, and another BWP may contain theCSS. In an example, the BWPs may be partially overlapping. If theoverlapping region is sufficient, a CSS may be across a first BWP and asecond BWP. In an example, two non-overlapping BWP configurations mayexist.

In an example embodiment, there may be one or more benefits ofconfiguring the same CORESET containing the CSS across BWPs. Forexample, RMSI and broadcast OSI monitoring may be handled withoutnecessitating BWP switching. In an example, RACH response and pagingcontrol monitoring on the PCell may also be handled without switching.For example, if CORESET configuration is the same across BWPs,robustness for BWP switching may improve, because even if gNB and UE areout-of-sync as to which BWP is currently active, the DL control channelmay work. In an example, one or more constraints on BWP configurationmay not be too much, considering that BWP may be for power saving, eventhe nested configuration may be very versatile for differentapplications.

In an example embodiment, for the case where the BWP configurations arenon-overlapping in frequency, there may not be spec mandate for UE tomonitor RMSI and broadcast OSI in the CSS. It may be left toimplementation to handle this case.

In an example embodiment, NR may support group-common search space(GCSS). For example, the GCSS may be employed as an alternative to CSSfor certain information. In an example, gNB may configure GCSS within aBWP for a UE, and information such as RACH response and paging controlmay be transmitted on GCSS. For example, the UE may monitor GCSS insteadof switching to the BWP containing the CSS for such information.

In an example embodiment, for pre-emption indication and othergroup-based commands on a serving cell, gNB may transmit the informationon GCSS. UE may monitor the GCSS for the information. For example, forSCell which may not have CSS.

In an example embodiment, NR may configure a CORESET without using aBWP. For example, NR support to configure a CORESET based on a BWP toreduce signaling overhead. In an example, a first CORESET for a UEduring an initial access may be configured based on its default BWP. Inan example, a CORESET for monitoring PDCCH for RAR and paging may beconfigured based on a DL BWP. In an example, the CORESET for monitoringgroup common (GC)-PDCCH for SFI may be configured based on a DL BWP. Inan example, the CORESET for monitoring GC-DCI for pre-emption indicationmay be configured based on a DL BWP. In an example, the BWP index may beindicated in the CORESET configuration. In an example, the default BWPindex may not be indicated in the CORESET configuration.

In an example embodiment, the contention-based random access (CBRA) RACHprocedure may be supported via an initial active DL and UL BWPs sincethe UE identity is unknown to the gNB. In an example, thecontention-free random access (CFRA) RACH procedure may be supported viathe USS configured in an active DL BWP for the UE. For example, in thiscase, an additional CSS for RACH purpose may not need to be configuredper BWP. For example, idle mode paging may be supported via an initialactive DL BWP and the connected mode paging may be supported via adefault BWP. No additional configurations for the BWP for pagingpurposes may not be needed for paging. For the case of pre-emption, aconfigured BWP (on a serving cell) may have the CSS configured formonitoring the pre-emption indications.

In an example embodiment, for a configured DL BWP, a group-common searchspace may be associated with at least one CORESET configured for thesame DL BWP. For example, depending on the monitoring periodicity ofdifferent group-common control information types, it may not bepractical for the UE to autonomously switch to a default BWP where agroup-common search space is available to monitor for such DCI. In thiscase, if there is at least one CORESET configured on a DL BWP, it may bepossible to configure a group-common search space in the same CORESET.

In an example embodiment, a center frequency of the activated DL BWP maynot be changed. In an example, the center frequency of the activated DLBWP may be changed. For example, For TDD, if the center frequency of theactivated DL BWP and deactivated DL BWP is not aligned, the active ULBWP may be switched implicitly.

In an example embodiment, BWPs with different numerologies may beoverlapped, and rate matching for CSI-RS/SRS of another BWP in theoverlapped region may be employed to achieve dynamic resource allocationof different numerologies in FDM/TDM fashion. In an example, for the CSImeasurement within one BWP, if the CSI-RS/SRS is collided with data/RSin another BWP, the collision region in another BWP may be rate matched.For example, CSI information over the two BWPs may be known at a gNBside by UE reporting. Dynamic resource allocation with differentnumerologies in a FDM manner may be achieved by gNB scheduling.

In an example embodiment, PUCCH resources may be configured in aconfigured UL BWP, in a default UL BWP and/or in both. For instance, ifthe PUCCH resources are configured in the default UL BWP, UE may retuneto the default UL BWP for transmitting an SR. for example, the PUCCHresources are configured per BWP or a BWP other than the default BWP,the UE may transmit an SR in the current active BWP without retuning.

In an example embodiment, if a configured SCell is activated for a UE, aDL BWP may be associated with an UL BWP at least for the purpose ofPUCCH transmission, and a default DL BWP may be activated. If the UE isconfigured for UL transmission in same serving cell, a default UL BWPmay be activated.

In an example embodiment, at least one of configured DL BWPs comprisesone CORESET with common search space (CSS) at least in primary componentcarrier. The CSS may be needed at least for RACH response (msg2) andpre-emption indication.

In an example, for the case of no periodic gap for RACH responsemonitoring on Pcell, for Pcell, one of configured DL bandwidth parts maycomprise one CORESET with the CSS type for RMSI & OSI. For Pcell, aconfigured DL bandwidth part may comprise one CORESET with the CSS typefor RACH response & paging control for system information update. For aserving cell, a configured DL bandwidth part may comprise one CORESETwith the CSS type for pre-emption indication and other group-basedcommands.

In an example, for the case of a presence of periodic gap for RACHresponse monitoring on Pcell, for Pcell, one of configured DL bandwidthparts may comprise one CORESET with CSS type for RMSI, OSI, RACHresponse & paging control for system information update. For a servingcell, a configured DL bandwidth part may comprise one CORESET with theCSS type for pre-emption indication and other group-based commands.

In an example embodiment, BWPs may be configured with respect to commonreference point (PRB 0) on a NW carrier. In an example, the BWPs may beconfigured using TYPE1 RA as a set of contiguous PRBs, with PRBgranularity for the START and LENGTH, and the minimum length may bedetermined by the minimum supported size of a CORESET.

In an example embodiment, a CSS may be configured on a non-initial BWPfor RAR and paging.

In an example embodiment, to monitor (group) common channel for RRCCONNECTED UE, an initial DL BWP may comprise control channel for RMSI,OSI and paging and UE switches BWP to monitor such channel. In anexample, a configured DL BWP may comprise control channel for Msg2. Inan example, a configured DL BWP may comprise control channel for SFI. Inan example, a configured DL BWP may comprise pre-emption indication andother group common indicators like power control.

In an example embodiment, a DCI may explicitly indicateactivation/deactivation of BWP.

For example, a DCI without data assignment may comprise an indication toactivate/deactivate BWP. In an example, UE may receive a firstindication via a first DCI to activate/deactivate BWP. In order for theUE to start receiving data, a second DCI with a data assignment may betransmitted by the gNB. A UE may receive the first DCI in a targetCORESET in a target BWP. In an example, until there is CSI feedbackprovided to a gNB, the gNB scheduler may make conservative schedulingdecisions.

In an example, a DCI without scheduling for active BWP switching may betransmitted to measure the CSI before scheduling. It may be taken as animplementation issue of DCI with scheduling, for example, the resourceallocation field may be set to zero, which means no data may bescheduled. Other fields in this DCI may comprise one or more CSI/SRSrequest fields.

In an example embodiment, support for a single scheduling DCI to triggeractive BWP switching may be motivated by dynamic BWP adaptation for UEpower saving during active state (which may comprise ON duration andwhen inactivity timer is running when C-DRX is configured). For example,with a C-DRX enabled, a UE may consume significant amount of powermonitoring PDCCH without decoding any grant. To reduce the powerconsumption during PDCCH monitoring, two BWPs may be configured: anarrower BWP for PDCCH monitoring, and a wider BWP for scheduled data.In such a case, the UE may switch back-and-forth between the narrowerBWP and the wider BWP, depending on the burstiness of the traffic. Forexample, the UE may be revisiting a BWP that it has dwelled onpreviously. For this case, combining a BWP switching indication and ascheduling grant may result in low latency and reduced signalingoverhead for BWP switching.

In an example embodiment, a SCell activation and deactivation maytrigger the corresponding action for its configured BWP. In an example,a SCell activation and deactivation may not trigger the correspondingaction for its configured BWP.

In an example embodiment, a dedicated BWP activation/deactivation DCImay impact a DCI format. For example, a scheduling DCI with a dummygrant may be employed. the dummy grant may be constructed byinvalidating one or some of the fields, for example, the resourceallocation field. In an example, it may be feasible to leverage afallback scheduling DCI format (which contains a smaller payload) toimprove the robustness for BWP DCI signaling, without incurring extrawork on introducing a new DCI format.

In an example embodiment, a DCI with data assignment may comprise anindication to activate/deactivate BWP along with a data assignment. Forexample, a UE may receive a combined data allocation and BWPactivation/deactivation message. For example, a DCI format may comprisea field to indicate BWP activation/deactivation along with a fieldindicating UL/DL grant. In this case, the UE may start receiving datawith a single DCI. In this case, the DCI may need indicate one or moretarget resources of a target BWP. A gNB scheduler may have littleknowledge of the CSI in the target BW and may have to make conservativescheduling decisions.

In an example embodiment, for the DCI with data assignment, the DCI maybe transmitted on a current active BWP and scheduling information may befor a new BWP. For example, there may be a single active BWP. There maybe one DCI in a slot for scheduling the current BWP or schedulinganother BWP. The same CORESET may be employed for the DCI scheduling thecurrent BWP and the DCI scheduling another BWP. For example, to reducethe number of blind decoding, the DCI payload size for the DCIscheduling current BWP and the scheduling DCI for BWP switching may bethe same.

In an example embodiment, to support the scheduling DCI for BWPswitching, a BWP group may be configured by gNB, in which a numerologyin one group may be the same. In an example, the BWP switching for theBWP group may be configured, in which BIF may be present in the CORESETsfor one or more BWPs in the group. For example, scheduling DCI for BWPswitching may be configured per BWP group, in which an active BWP in thegroup may be switched to any other BWP in the group.

In an example, embodiment, a DCI comprising scheduling assignment/grantmay not comprise active-BWP indicator. For a paired spectrum, ascheduling DCI may switch UEs active BWP for the transmission directionthat the scheduling is valid for. For an unpaired spectrum, a schedulingDCI may switch the UEs active DL/UL BWP pair regardless of thetransmission direction that the scheduling is valid for. There may be apossibility for downlink scheduling assignment/grant with “zero”assignment, in practice allowing for switch of active BWP withoutscheduling downlink or uplink transmission

In an example embodiment, a timer-based activation/deactivation BWP maybe supported. For example, a timer for activation/deactivation of DL BWPmay reduce signaling overhead and may enable UE power savings. Theactivation/deactivation of a DL BWP may be based on an inactivity timer(referred to as a BWP inactive (or inactivity) timer). For example, a UEmay start and reset a timer upon reception of a DCI. When the UE is notscheduled for the duration of the timer, the timer may expire. In thiscase, the UE may activate/deactivate the appropriate BWP in response tothe expiry of the timer. For example, the UE may activate for examplethe Default BWP and may deactivate the source BWP.

For example, a BWP inactive timer may be beneficial for power saving fora UE switching to a default BWP with smaller BW and fallback for a UEmissing DCI based activation/deactivation signaling to switch from oneBWP to another BWP

In an example embodiment, triggering conditions of the BWP inactivetimer may follow the ones for the DRX timer in LTE. For example, anOn-duration of the BWP inactive timer may be configured and the timermay start when a UE-specific PDCCH is successfully decoded indicating anew transmission during the On-duration. The timer may restart when aUE-specific PDCCH is successfully decoded indicating a new transmission.The timer may stop once the UE is scheduled to switch to the default DLBWP.

In an example embodiment, for fallback, the BWP inactive timer may startonce the UE switches to a new DL BWP. The timer may restart when aUE-specific PDCCH is successfully decoded, wherein the UE-specific PDCCHmay be associated with a new transmission, a retransmission or someother purpose, e.g., SPS activation/deactivation if supported.

In an example embodiment, a UE may switch to a default BWP if the UEdoes not receive any control/data from the network during a BWP inactivetimer running. The timer may be reset upon reception of anycontrol/data. For example, the timer may be triggered when UE receives aDCI to switch its active DL BWP from the default BWP to another. Forexample, the timer may be reset when a UE receives a DCI to schedulePDSCH(s) in the BWP other than the default BWP.

In an example embodiment, a DL BWP inactive timer may be definedseparately from a UL BWP inactive timer. For example, there may be someways to set the timer, e.g., independent timer for DL BWP and UL BWP, ora joint timer for DL and UL BWP. In an example, for the separate timers,assuming both DL BWP and UL BWP are activated, if there is DL data andUL timer expires, UL BWP may not be deactivated since PUCCHconfiguration may be affected. For example, for the uplink, if there isUL feedback signal related to DL transmission, the timer may be reset(Or, UL timer may not be set if there is DL data). On the other hand, ifthere is UL data and the DL timer expires, there may be no issue if theDL BWP is deactivated since UL grant is transmitted in the default DLBWP.

In an example embodiment, a BWP inactivity-timer may enable thefall-back to default BWP on Pcell and Scell.

In an example embodiment, a timer-based activation/deactivation of BWPmay be similar to a UE DRX timer. For example, there may not be aseparate inactivity timer for BWP activation/deactivation for the UE DRXtimer. For example, one of the UE DRX inactivity timer may trigger BWPactivation/deactivation.

For example, there may be a separate inactivity timer for BWPactivation/deactivation for the UE DRX timer. For example, the DRXtimers may be defined in a MAC layer, and the BWP timer may be definedin a physical layer. In an example, If the same DRX inactivity timer isemployed for BWP activation/deactivation, UE may stay in a wider BWP foras long as the inactivity timer is running, which may be a long time.For example, the DRX inactivity timer may be set to a large value of100-200 milliseconds for C-DRX cycle of 320 milliseconds, larger thanthe ON duration (10 milliseconds). This may imply that power saving dueto narrower BWP may not be achievable. To realize potential of UE powersaving promised by BWP switching, a new timer may be defined and it maybe configured to be smaller than the DRX inactivity timer. From thepoint of view of DRX operation, BWP switching may allow UE to operate atdifferent power levels during the active state, effectively providingsome more intermediate operating points between the ON and OFF states.

In an example embodiment, with a DCI explicit activation/deactivation ofBWP, a UE and a gNB may not be synchronized with respect to which BWP isactivated/deactivated. The gNB scheduler may not have CSI informationrelated to a target BWP for channel-sensitive scheduling. The gNB may belimited to conservative scheduling for one or more first severalscheduling occasions. The gNB may rely on periodic or aperiodic CSI-RSand associated CQI report to perform channel-sensitive scheduling.Relying on periodic or aperiodic CSI-RS and associated CQI report maydelay channel-sensitive scheduling and/or lead to signaling overhead(e.g. in the case where we request aperiodic CQI). To mitigate a delayin acquiring synchronization and channel state information, a UE maytransmit an acknowledgement upon receiving an activation/deactivation ofBWP. For example, a CSI report based on the provided CSI-RS resource maybe transmitted after activation of a BWP and is employed asacknowledgment of activation/deactivation.

In an example embodiment, a gNB may provide a sounding reference signalfor a target BWP after a UE tunes to a new bandwidth. In an example, theUE may report the CSI, which is employed as an acknowledgement by thegNB to confirm that the UE receive an explicit DCI command andactivates/deactivates the appropriate BWPs. In an example, for the caseof an explicit activation/deactivation via DCI with data assignment, afirst data assignment may be carried out without a CSI for the targetBWP

In an example embodiment, a guard period may be defined to take RFretuning and the related operations into account. For example, a UE mayneither transmit nor receive signals in the guard period. A gNB may needto know the length of the guard period. For example, the length of theguard period may be reported to the gNB as a UE capability. The lengthof the guard period may be closely related on the numerologies of theBWPs and the length of the slot. For example, the length of the guardperiod for RF retuning may be reported as a UE capability. In anexample, the UE may report the absolute time in vs. in an example, theUE may report the guard period in symbols.

In an example embodiment, after the gNB knows the length of the guardperiod by UE reporting, the gNB may want to keep the time domainposition of guard period aligned between the gNB and the UE. Forexample, the guard period for RF retuning may be predefined for timepattern triggered BWP switching. In an example, for the BWP switchingtriggered by DCI and timer, the guard period for DCI and timer based BWPswitching may be an implementation issue. In an example, for BWPswitching following some time pattern, the position of the guard periodmay be defined. For example, if the UE is configured to switchperiodically to a default BWP for CSS monitoring, the guard period maynot affect the symbols carrying CSS.

In an example embodiment, a single DCI may switch the UE's active BWPform one to another (of the same link direction) within a given servingcell. A separate field may be employed in the scheduling DCI to indicatethe index of the BWP for activation, such that UE may determine thecurrent DL/UL BWP according to a detected DL/UL grant without requiringany other control information. In case the BWP change does not happenduring a certain time duration, the multiple scheduling DCIs transmittedin this duration may comprise the indication to the same BWP. During thetransit time when potential ambiguity may happen, gNB may sendscheduling grants in the current BWP or together in the other BWPscontaining the same target BWP index, such that UE may obtain the targetBWP index by detecting the scheduling DCI in either one of the BWPs. Theduplicated scheduling DCI may be transmitted K times. When UE receiveone of the K times transmissions, UE may switch to the target BWP andstart to receive or transmit (UL) in the target BWP according to the BWPindication field.

In an example embodiment, switching between BWPs may not introduce largetime gaps when UE may not be able to receive due to re-tuning, neitherafter detecting short inactivity (Case 1) or when data activity isreactivated (Case 2). For example, in Case 2, long breaks of severalslots may severely impact the TCP ramp up as UE may not be able totransmit and receive during those slots, impacting obtained RTT and datarate. Case 1 may be seen less problematic at first glance but similarlylong break in reception may make UE out of reach from network point ofview reducing network interest to utilize short inactivity timer.

In an example, if BWP switching takes significant time, and UE requiresnew reference symbols to update AGC, channel estimation etc., the systemmay have less possibilities/motivation to utilize active BWP adaption inthe UE. This may be achieved by preferring configuration where BWPcenter frequency remains the same when switching between BWPs.

In an example embodiment, a frequency location of UE RF bandwidth may beindicated by gNB. For example, considering the UE RF bandwidthcapability, the RF bandwidth of the UE may be usually smaller than thecarrier bandwidth. The supported RF bandwidth for a UE is usually a setof discrete values (e.g., 10 MHz, 20 MHz, 50 MHz and so on), for energysaving purpose, the UE RF bandwidth may be determined as the minimumavailable bandwidth supporting the BWP bandwidth. But the granularity ofBWP bandwidth is PRB level, which is decoupled with UE RF bandwidth andmore flexible. As a result, in most cases the UE RF bandwidth is largerthan the BWP bandwidth. The UE may receive the signal outside thecarrier bandwidth, especially if the configured BWP is configured nearthe edge of the carrier bandwidth. And the inter-system interference orthe interference from the adjacent cell outside the carrier bandwidthmay impact the receiving performance of the BWP. Thus, to keep the UE RFbandwidth in the carrier bandwidth, it may be necessary to indicate thefrequency location of the UE RF bandwidth by gNB.

In an example embodiment, in terms of measurement gap configuration, thegap duration may be determined based on the measurement duration andnecessary retuning gap. For example, different retuning gap may beneeded depending on the cases. For example, if a UE does not need toswitch its center, the retuning may be small such as 20 us. For the casethat the network may not know whether the UE needs to switch its centeror not to perform measurement, a UE may indicate the necessary retuninggap for a measurement configuration.

In an example embodiment, the necessary gap may depend on the currentactive BWP which may be dynamically switched via switching mechanism. Inthis case, for example, UEs may need to dynamically indicate thenecessary gap.

In an example embodiment, the measurement gap may be implicitly created,wherein the network may configure a certain gap (which may comprise thesmallest retuning latency, for example, the network may assume smallretuning gap is necessary if both measurement bandwidth and active BWPmay be included within UE maximum RF capability assuming centerfrequency of current active BWP is not changed). In this case, forexample, if a UE needs more gap than the configured, the UE may skipreceiving or transmitting.

In an example embodiment, different measurement gap and retuning latencymay be assumed for RRM and CSI respectively. For CSI measurement, ifperiodic CSI measurement outside of active BWP is configured, a UE mayneed to perform its measurement periodically per measurementconfiguration. For RRM, it may be up to UE implementation where toperform the measurement as long as it satisfies the measurementrequirements. In this case, for example, the worst-case retuning latencyfor a measurement may be employed. In an example, as the retuninglatency may be different between intra-band and inter-band retuning,separate measurement gap configuration between intra-band and inter-bandmeasurement may be considered.

In an example embodiment, for multiple DCI formats with the same DCIsize of a same RNTI, a respective DCI format may comprise an explicitidentifier to distinguish them. For example, a same DCI size may comefrom a few (but not a large number of) zero-padding bits at least inUE-specific search space.

In an example embodiment, when there is a BWP switching, a DCI in thecurrent BWP may need to indicate resource allocation in the next BWPthat the UE is expected to switch. For example, the resource allocationmay be based on the UE-specific PRB indexing, which may be per BWP. Arange of the PRB indices may change as the BWP changes. In an example,the DCI to be transmitted in current BWP may be based on the PRBindexing for the current BWP. The DCI may need to indicate the RA in thenew BWP, which may arouse a conflict. To resolve the conflict withoutsignificantly increasing UEs blind detection overhead, the DCI size andbit fields may not change per BWP for a given DCI type.

In an example embodiment, as the range of the PRB indices may change asthe BWP changes, one or more employed bits among the total bit field forRA may be dependent on the employed BWP. For example, UE may employ theindicated BWP ID that the resource allocation is intended to identifythe resource allocation bit field.

In an example embodiment, a DCI size of the BWP may consider two cases.One case may be a normal DCI detection without BWP retuning, and theother case may be a DCI detection during the BWP retuning.

For example, in some cases, a DCI format may be independent of the BW ofthe active DL/UL BWP (which may be called as fallback DCI). In anexample, at least one of DCI formats for DL may be configured to havethe same size to a UE for one or more configured DL BWPs of a servingcell. In an example, at least one of the DCI formats for UL may beconfigured to have the same size to a UE for one or more configured ULBWPs of a serving cell. In an example embodiment, a BWP-dependent DCIformat may be monitored at the same time (which may be called as normalDCI) for both active DL BWP and active UL BWP. For example, UE may beconfigured to monitor both DCI formats at the same time. During the BWPactivation/deactivation, gNB may assign the fallback DCI format to avoidambiguity during the transition period.

In an example embodiment, if a UE is configured with multiple DL or ULBWPs in a serving cell, an inactive DL/UL BWP may be activated by a DCIscheduling a DL assignment or UL grant respectively in this BWP. As theUE is monitoring the PDCCH on the currently active DL BWP, the DCI maycomprise an indication to a target BWP that the UE may switch to forPDSCH reception or UL transmission. A BWP indication may be inserted inthe UE-specific DCI format for this purpose. The bit width of this fieldmay depend on either the maximum possible or presently configured numberof DL/UL BWPs. Similar to CIF, it may be simpler to set the BWPindication field to a fixed size based on the maximum number ofconfigured BWPs.

In an example, a DCI format size may match the BW of the BWP in whichthe PDCCH is received. To avoid an increase in the number of blinddecodes, the UE may identify the RA field based on the scheduled BWP.For example, for a transition from a small BWP to a larger BWP, the UEmay identify the RA field as being the LSBs of the required RA field forscheduling the larger BWP.

In an example embodiment, a same DCI size for scheduling different BWPsmay be defied by keeping a same size of resource allocation field forone or more configured BWPs. For example, gNB may not be aware ofwhether UE switches BWPs if gNB does not receive at least one responsefrom the UE (e.g., gNB may be aware of if UE switches BWPs based on areception of ACK/NACK from the UE). In an example, to avoid such amismatch between gNB and UE, NR may define fallback mechanism. Forexample, if there is no response from the UE, gNB may transmit thescheduling DCI for previous BWPs and that for newly activated BWP sincethe UE may receive the DCI on either BWP. When the gNB receives aresponse from the UE, the gNB may confirm that the active BWP switchingis completed. In an example, if a same DCI size for scheduling differentBWPs is considered and COREST configuration is also the same fordifferent BWPs, gNB may not transmit multiple DCIs.

In an example embodiment, DCI format(s) may be configureduser-specifically per cell, e.g., not per BWP. For example, after the UEsyncs to the new BWP, the UE may start to monitor pre-configuredsearch-space on the CORESET. If the DCI formats may be configured percell to keep the number of DCI formats, the corresponding header size inDCI may be small.

In an example embodiment, a size of DCI format in different BWPs mayvary and may change at least due to different size of RA bitmap ondifferent BWPs. For example, the size of DCI format configured in a cellfor a UE may be dependent on BWP it schedules.

In an example embodiment, the monitored DCI format size on asearch-space of a CORESET may be configurable with the sufficiently finegranularity (the granularity may be predefined). For example, themonitored DCI format size with sufficient granularity may be beneficialwhen a gNB may have the possibility to set freely the monitoring DCIformat size on a search-spaces of a CORESET, such that it mayaccommodate the largest actual DCI format size variant among one or moreBWPs configured in a serving cell.

In an example embodiment, for a UE-specific serving cell, one or more DLBWPs and one or more UL BWPs may be configured by dedicated RRC for aUE. For the case of PCell, this may be done as part of the RRCconnection establishment procedure. For the SCell, this may be done viaRRC configuration which may indicate the SCell parameters.

In an example embodiment, when a UE receives SCell activation command,there may be a default DL and/or UL BWP which may be activated sincethere may be at least one DL and/or UL BWP which may be monitored by theUE depending on the properties of the SCell (DL only or UL only orboth). This BWP which may be activated upon receiving SCell activationcommand, may be informed to the UE via the a RRC configuration whichconfigured the BWP on this serving cell.

For example, for SCell, RRC signaling for SCellconfiguration/reconfiguration may be employed to indicate which DL BWPand/or which UL BWP may be activated when the SCell activation commandis received by the UE. The indicated BWP may be the initially activeDL/UL BWP on the SCell. Therefore, SCell activation command may activateDL and/or UL BWP.

In an example embodiment, for a SCell, RRC signaling for the SCellconfiguration/reconfiguration may be employed for indicating a defaultDL BWP on the SCell which may be employed for fall back purposes. Forexample, the default DL BWP may be same or different from the initiallyactivated DL/UL BWP which is indicated to UE as part of the SCellconfiguration. In an example, a default UL BWP may be configured to UEfor the case of transmitting PUCCH for SR (as an example), in case thePUCCH resources are not configured in every BWP for the sake of SR.

In an example, a Scell may be for DL only. For the Scell for DL only, UEmay keep monitoring an initial DL BWP (initial active or default) untilUE receives SCell deactivation command.

In an example, a Scell may be for UL only. For the Scell for UL only,when UE receives a grant, UE may transmit on the indicated UL BWP. In anexample, the UE may not maintain an active UL BWP if UE does not receivea grant. In an example, not mainlining the active UL BWP due to no grantreceive may not deactivate the SCell.

In an example, a Scell may be for UL and DL. For the Scell for UL andDL, a UE may keep monitoring an initial DL BWP (initial active ordefault) until UE receives SCell deactivation command and. The UL BWPmay be employed when there is a relevant grant or an SR transmission.

In an example, a BWP deactivation may not result in a SCelldeactivation. For example, when the UE receives the SCell deactivationcommand, the active DL and/or UL BWPs may be considered deactivated.

In an example embodiment, if the SCell has its associated UL and/or a UEis expected to perform RACH procedure on SCell during activation,activation of UL BWP may be needed. For example, at SCell activation, DLonly (only active DL BWP) or DL/UL (both DL/UL active BWP) may beconfigured. Regarding SUL band as a SCell, a UE may select default ULBWP based on measurement or the network configures which one in itsactivation.

In an example embodiment, one or more BWPs are semi-staticallyconfigured via UE-specific RRC signaling. In a CA system, if a UEmaintains RRC connection with the primary component carrier (CC), theBWP in secondary CC may be configured via RRC signaling in the primaryCC.

In an example embodiment, one or more BWPs may be semi-staticallyconfigured to a UE via RRC signaling in PCell. A DCI transmitted inSCell may indicate a BWP among the one or more configured BWP, and grantdetailed resource based on the indicated BWP.

In an example embodiment, for a cross-CC scheduling, a DCI transmittedin PCell may indicate a BWP among the one or more configured BWPs, andgrants detailed resource based on the indicated BWP.

In an example embodiment, when a SCell is activated, a DL BWP may beinitially activated for configuring CORESET for monitoring the firstPDCCH in Scell. The DL BWP may serve as a default DL BWP in the SCell.In an example, since the UE performs initial access via a SS block inPCell, the default DL BWP in SCell may not be derived from SS block forinitial access. The default DL BWP in Scell may be configured by RRCsignaling in the PCell.

In an example embodiment, when an Scell is activated, an indicationindicating which DL BWP and/or which UL BWP are active may be in RRCsignaling for Scell configuration/reconfiguration. For example, the RRCsignaling for Scell configuration/reconfiguration may be employed forindicating which DL BWP and/or which UL BWP are initially activated whenthe Scell is activated.

In an example embodiment, when an Scell is activated, an indicationindicating which DL BWP and/or which UL BWP are active may be in Scellactivation signaling. For example, Scell activation signaling may beemployed for indicating which DL BWP and/or which UL BWP are initiallyactivated when the Scell is activated.

In an example embodiment, for PCells and pSCells, an initial defaultbandwidth parts for DL and UL (e.g., for RMSI reception and PRACHtransmission) may be valid until at least one bandwidth part isconfigured for the DL and UL via RRC UE-specific signaling,respectively, at what time the initial default DL/UL bandwidth parts maybecome invalid and new default DL/UL bandwidth parts may take effect. Inan example, for an Scell, the SCell configuration may comprise defaultDL/UL bandwidth parts

In an example embodiment, an initial BWP on Pcell may be defined by MIB.In an example, an initial BWP and default BWP may be separatelyconfigurable for the Scell. For an Scell if the Scell is activated, aninitial BWP may be the widest configured BWP of the Scell. For example,after the traffic burst is served, and an inactivity timer expires, a UEmay retune to default BWP which may be the narrow BWP, for powersavings, keeping the Scell active and may be ready to be opened brisklywhen additional data burst arrives.

In an example embodiment, a BWP on Scell may be activated by means ofcross-cell scheduling DCI, if cross-cell scheduling is configured to aUE. In this case, the gNB may activate a BWP on the Scell by indicatingCIF and BWPI in the scheduling DCI.

In an example embodiment, UE and/or gNB may perform synchronizationtracking within an active DL BWP without SS block. For example, TRSalong with DL BWP configuration may be configured. For example, a DL BWPwith SS block or TRS may be configured as a reference forsynchronization tracking, which may be similar to the design of CSSmonitoring when the BWP does not comprise a common CORESET.

In an example embodiment, SS-block based RRM measurements may bedecoupled with BWP framework. For example, measurement configurationsfor each RRM and CSI feedback may be independently configured frombandwidth part configurations. CSI and SRS measurements/transmissionsmay be performed within the BWP framework.

In an example embodiment, for a MCS assignment of the first one or moreDL data packets after active DL BWP switching, the network may assignrobust MCS to a UE for the first one or more DL data packets based onRRM measurement reporting. In an example, for a MCS assignment of thefirst one or more DL data packets after active DL BWP switching, thenetwork may signal to a UE by active DL BWP switching DCI to triggeraperiodic CSI measurement/reporting to speed up link adaptationconvergence. For a UE, periodic CSI measurement outside the active BWPin a serving cell may not supported. For a UE, RRM measurement outsideactive BWP in a serving cell may be supported. For a UE, RRM measurementoutside configured BWPs in a serving cell may be supported.

In an example embodiment, the RRM measurements may be performed on a SSBand/or CSI-RS. The RRM/RLM measurements may be independent of BWPs.

In an example embodiment, UE may not be configured with aperiodic CSIreports for non-active DL BWPs. For example, the CSI measurement may beobtained after the BW opening and the wide-band CQI of the previous BWPmay be employed as starting point for the other BWP on the NW carrier.

In an example embodiment, UE may perform CSI measurements on the BWPbefore scheduling. For example, before scheduling on a new BWP, the gNBmay intend to find the channel quality on the potential new BWPs beforescheduling the user on that BWP. In this case, the UE may switch to adifferent BWP and measure channel quality on the BWP and then transmitthe CSI report. There may be no scheduling needed for this case.

In an example embodiment, resource allocation for data transmission fora UE not capable of supporting the carrier bandwidth may be derivedbased on a two-step frequency-domain assignment process. In an example,a first step may indicate a bandwidth part, and a second step mayindicate one or more PRBs within the bandwidth part.

In an example embodiment, One or multiple bandwidth part configurationsfor each component carrier may be semi-statically signalled to a UE. Abandwidth part may comprise a group of contiguous PRBs, wherein one ormore reserved resources maybe be configured within the bandwidth part.The bandwidth of a bandwidth part may be equal to or be smaller than themaximal bandwidth capability supported by a UE. The bandwidth of abandwidth part may be at least as large as the SS block bandwidth. Thebandwidth part may or may not contain the SS block. A Configuration of abandwidth part may comprise at least one of following properties:Numerology, Frequency location (e.g. center frequency), or Bandwidth(e.g. number of PRBs).

In an example embodiment, a bandwidth part may be associated with one ormore numerologies, wherein the one or more numerologies may comprisesub-carrier spacing, CP type, or slot duration indication. In anexample, an UE may expect at least one DL bandwidth part and at leastone UL bandwidth part being active among a set of configured bandwidthparts for a given time instant. A UE may be assumed to receive/transmitwithin active DL/UL bandwidth part(s) using the associated numerology,for example, at least PDSCH and/or PDCCH for DL and PUCCH and/or PUSCHfor UL, or combination thereof.

In an example, multiple bandwidth parts with same or differentnumerologies may be active for a UE simultaneously. The active multiplebandwidth parts may not imply that it is required for UE to supportdifferent numerologies at the same instance. The active DL/UL bandwidthpart may not span a frequency range larger than the DL/UL bandwidthcapability of the UE in a component carrier.

In an example embodiment, NR may support single and multiple SS blocktransmissions in wideband CC in the frequency domain. For example, fornon-CA UE with a smaller BW capability and potentially for CA UE, NR maysupport a measurement gap for RRM measurement and potentially otherpurposes (e.g., path loss measurement for UL power control) using SSblock (if it is agreed that there is no SS block in the active BWpart(s)). UE may be informed of the presence/parameters of the SSblock(s) and parameters necessary for RRM measurement via at least oneof following: RMSI, other system information, and/or RRC signaling

In an example embodiment, a maximum bandwidth for CORESET for RMSIscheduling and NR-PDSCH carrying RMSI may be equal to or smaller than acertain DL bandwidth of NR that one or more UEs may support in afrequency range. For example, at least for one RACH preamble format, thebandwidth may be equal to or smaller than a certain UL bandwidth of NRthat one or more UEs may support in a frequency range. There may beother RACH preamble format with larger bandwidth than a certainbandwidth of NR that one or more UEs may support.

In an example embodiment, CORESET for RMSI scheduling and NR-PDSCH forRMSI may be confined within the BW of one NR-PBCH. In an example,CORESET for RMSI scheduling is confined within the BW of one NR-PBCH andNR-PDSCH for RMSI may not be confined within the BW of one NR-PBCH. Inan example, CORESET for RMSI scheduling and NR-PDSCH for RMSI may not beconfined within the BW of one NR-PBCH.

In an example embodiment, there may be one active DL BWP for a giventime instant. For example, a configuration of a DL bandwidth part maycomprise at least one CORESET. PDSCH and corresponding PDCCH (PDCCHcarrying scheduling assignment for the PDSCH) may be transmitted withinthe same BWP if PDSCH transmission starts no later than K symbols afterthe end of the PDCCH transmission. In case of PDSCH transmissionstarting more than K symbols after the end of the corresponding PDCCH,PDCCH and PDSCH may be transmitted in different BWPs. The value of K maydepend on at least one of following numerology or possibly reported UEretuning time. In an example, for the indication of active DL/ULbandwidth part(s) to a UE, DCI (explicitly and/or implicitly), MAC CE,Time pattern (e.g. DRX like) and/or combinations thereof may beconsidered.

In an example embodiment, NR may support switching between partial bandsfor SRS transmissions in a CC. For example, when an UE is not capable ofsimultaneous transmission in partial bands in a CC, RF retuningrequirement for partial band switching may be considered, wherein thepartial band may indicate a bandwidth part.

In an example embodiment, Common PRB indexing may be employed at leastfor DL BWP configuration in RRC connected state. For example, areference point may be PRB 0, which may be common to one or more UEssharing a wideband CC from network perspective, regardless of whetherthey are NB, CA, or WB UEs. In an example, an offset from PRB 0 to thelowest PRB of the SS block accessed by a UE may be configured by highlayer signaling, e.g., via RMSI and/or UE-specific signaling. In anexample, a common PRB indexing may be for maximum number of PRBs for agiven numerology, wherein the common PRB indexing may be for RSgeneration for UE-specific PDSCH and/or may be for

UL.

In an example embodiment, there may be an initial active DL/UL bandwidthpart pair to be valid for a UE until the UE is explicitly (re)configuredwith bandwidth part(s) during or after RRC connection is established.For example, the initial active DL/UL bandwidth part may be confinedwithin the UE minimum bandwidth for the given frequency band. NR maysupport activation/deactivation of DL and UL bandwidth part by explicitindication at least in DCI. MAC CE based approach may be employed forthe activation/deactivation of DL and UL bandwidth part. In an example,NR may support an activation/deactivation of DL bandwidth part by meansof timer for a UE to switch its active DL bandwidth part to a default DLbandwidth part. For example, a default DL bandwidth part may be theinitial active DL bandwidth part defined above. The default DL bandwidthpart may be reconfigured by the network.

In an example embodiment, when a UE performs measurement or transmit SRSoutside of its active BWP, it may be considered as a measurement gap.For example, during the measurement gap, UE may not monitor CORESET.

In an example embodiment, a SRS transmission in an active UL BWP mayemploy the same numerology as that configured for that BWP. For example,for LTE SRS sequences, NR may support UE specific configured bandwidthbased on tree-like SRS bandwidth sets (e.g., analogues to LTE).Parameters employed for configuring bandwidth allocation, e.g. whetheror not CSRS and BSRS may be reused in a UE specific manner. For example,for LTE SRS sequences, NR may support to sound substantially all UL PRBsin a BWP.

In an example embodiment, a frequency-hopping for a PUCCH may occurwithin an active UL BWP for the UE, wherein there may be multiple activeBWPs, and the active BWP may refer to BWP associated with the numerologyof PUCCH

In an example embodiment, for paired spectrum, gNB may configure DL andUL BWPs separately and independently for a UE-specific serving cell fora UE. For example, for active BWP switching using at least schedulingDCI, a DCI for DL may be employed for DL active BWP switching and a DCIfor UL may be employed for UL active BWP switching. For example, NR maysupport a single DCI switching DL and UL BWP jointly.

In an example, embodiment, for unpaired spectrum, gNB may jointlyconfigure a DL BWP and an UL BWP as a pair, with the restriction thatthe DL and UL BWPs of a DL/UL BWP pair may share the same centerfrequency but may be of different bandwidths for a UE-specific servingcell for a UE. For example, for active BWP switching using at leastscheduling DCI, a DCI for either DL or UL may be employed for active BWPswitching from one DL/UL BWP pair to another pair. This may apply to atleast the case where both DL & UL are activated to a UE in thecorresponding unpaired spectrum. In an example, there may not be arestriction on DL BWP and UL BWP pairing.

In an example embodiment, for a UE, a configured DL (or UL) BWP mayoverlap in frequency domain with another configured DL (or UL) BWP in aserving cell.

In an example embodiment, for a serving cell, a maximal number of DL/ULBWP configurations may be for paired spectrum, for example, 4 DL BWPsand 4 UL BWPs. In an example, a maximal number of DL/UL BWPconfigurations may be for unpaired spectrum, for example, 4 DL/UL BWPpairs. In an example, a maximal number of DL/UL BWP configurations maybe for SUL, for example, 4 UL BWPs.

In an example embodiment, for paired spectrum, NR may support adedicated timer for timer-based active DL BWP switching to the defaultDL BWP. For example, a UE may start the timer when it switches itsactive DL BWP to a DL BWP other than the default DL BWP. In an example,a UE may restart the timer to the initial value when it successfullydecodes a DCI to schedule PDSCH(s) in its active DL BWP. For example, aUE may switch its active DL BWP to the default DL BWP when the timerexpires.

In an example embodiment, for unpaired spectrum, NR may support adedicated timer for timer-based active DL/UL BWP pair switching to thedefault DL/UL BWP pair. For example, a UE may start the timer when itswitches its active DL/UL BWP pair to a DL/UL BWP pair other than thedefault DL/UL BWP pair. For example, a UE may restart the timer to theinitial value when it successfully decodes a DCI to schedule PDSCH(s) inits active DL/UL BWP pair. In an example, a UE may switch its activeDL/UL BWP pair to the default DL/UL BWP pair when the timer expires.

In an example embodiment, for an Scell, RRC signaling for Scellconfiguration/reconfiguration may indicate a first active DL BWP and/ora first active UL BWP when the Scell is activated. In an example, NR maysupport a Scell activation signaling that doesn't contain anyinformation related to the first active DL/UL BWP. In an example, for anScell, an active DL BWP and/or UL BWP may be deactivated when the Scellis deactivated. In an example, the Scell may be deactivated by an Scelldeactivation timer.

In an example embodiment, for an Scell, a UE may be configured with atleast one of following: a timer for timer-based active DL BWP (or DL/ULBWP pair) switching, and/or a default DL BWP (or the default DL/UL BWPpair) which may be employed when the timer is expired, wherein thedefault DL BWP may be different from the first active DL BWP.

In an example, for Pcell, a default DL BWP (or DL/UL BWP pair) may beconfigured/reconfigured to a UE. In an example, if no default DL BWP isconfigured, the default DL BWP may be an initial active DL BWP.

In an example embodiment, in a serving cell where PUCCH is configured, aconfigured UL BWP may comprise PUCCH resources.

In an example embodiment, for a UE in Pcell, a common search space forat least RACH procedure may be configured in one or more BWPs. Forexample, for a UE in a serving cell, a common search space forgroup-common PDCCH (e.g. SFI, pre-emption indication, etc.) may beconfigured in one or more BWPs

In an example embodiment, a DL (or UL) BWP may be configured to a UE byresource allocation Type 1 with 1 PRB granularity of starting frequencylocation and 1 PRB granularity of bandwidth size, wherein thegranularity may not imply that a UE may adapt its RF channel bandwidthaccordingly.

In an example embodiment, for a UE, DCI format size itself may not be apart of RRC configuration irrespective of BWP activation & deactivationin a serving cell. For example, the DCI format size may depend ondifferent operations and/or configurations (if any) of differentinformation fields in the DCI.

In an example embodiment, an initial active DL BWP may be defined asfrequency location and bandwidth of RMSI CORESET and numerology ofRMSI., wherein PDSCH delivering RMSI may be confined within the initialactive DL BWP.

In an example embodiment, a UE may be configured with PRB bundlingsize(s) per BWP.

In an example embodiment, NR may support configuring CSI-RS resource onBWP with a transmission BW equal to or smaller than the BWP. Forexample, when the CSI-RS BW is smaller than the BWP, NR may support atleast the case that CSI-RS spans contiguous RBs in the granularity of NRBs. When CSI-RS BW is smaller than the corresponding BWP, it may be atleast larger than X RBs, wherein value of X is predefined. For example,the value of X may be the same or different for beam management and CSIacquisition. For example, the value of X may or may not benumerology-dependent.

In an example embodiment, for a UE with an RRC connected mode, RRCsignaling may support to configure one or more BWPs (both for DL BWP andUL BWP) for a serving cell (PCell, PSCell). For example, RRC signalingmay support to configure 0, 1 or more BWPs (both for DL BWP and UL BWP)for a serving cell SCell (at least 1 DL BWP). In an example, for a UE,the PCell, PSCell and each SCell may have a single associated SSB infrequency. A cell defining SS block may be changed by synchronousreconfiguration for PCell/PSCell and SCell release/add for the SCell.For example, a SS block frequency which needs to be measured by the UEmay be configured as individual measurement object (e.g., onemeasurement object corresponds to a single SS block frequency). the celldefining SS block may be considered as the time reference of the servingcell, and for RRM serving cell measurements based on SSB, for example,irrespective of which BWP is activated.

In an example, embodiment, one or more RRC timers and counters relatedto RLM may not be reset when the active BWP is changed.

In an example embodiment, an SR configuration may comprise a collectionof sets of PUCCH resources across different BWPs and cells, wherein percell, at any given time there may be at most one usable PUCCH resourceper LCH, and/or this may be applicable to the case of one singleLTE-like set of SR PUCCH resources being configured per LCH per BWP, andone BWP being active at a time.

In an example embodiment, BWP switching and cell activation/deactivationmay not interfere with the operation of the counter and timer. Forexample, when a BWP is deactivated, the UE may or may not stop usingconfigured downlink assignments and/or configured uplink grants usingresources of the BWP. In an example, the UE may suspend the configuredgrants of the or clear it. In an example, the UE may not suspend theconfigured grants of the or may not clears it.

In an example embodiment, a new timer (BWP inactivity timer) may beemployed to switch active BWP to default BWP after a certain inactivetime. The BWP inactivity timer may be independent from the DRX timers.

In an example embodiment, on the BWP that is deactivated, UE may nottransmit on UL-SCH on the BWP. In an example, on the BWP that isdeactivated, UE may not

In an example, on the BWP that is deactivated, UE may not monitor thePDCCH on the BWP. In an example, on the BWP that is deactivated, UE maynot transmit PUCCH on the BWP. In an example, on the BWP that isdeactivated, UE may not transmit on PRACH on the BWP. In an example, onthe BWP that is deactivated, UE may not flush HARQ buffers when doingBWP switching.

In an example embodiment, for FDD, gNB may configure separate sets ofbandwidth part (BWP) configurations for DL & UL per component carrier.In an example, a numerology of DL BWP configuration may be applied to atleast PDCCH, PDSCH & corresponding DMRS. A numerology of UL BWPconfiguration may be applied to at least PUCCH, PUSCH & correspondingDMRS. In an example, for TDD, gNB may configure separate sets of BWPconfigurations for DL & UL per component carrier. In an example, anumerology of DL BWP configuration is applied to at least PDCCH, PDSCH &corresponding DMRS. A numerology of UL BWP configuration is applied toat least PUCCH, PUSCH & corresponding DMRS. For example, when differentactive DL and UL

BWPs are configured, UE may not retune the center frequency of channelBW between DL and UL.

In an example, a plurality of scheduling request (SR) configurations maybe configured for a bandwidth part (BWP) of a cell for a wirelessdevice. In an example, a wireless device may use SR resources configuredby a SR resource in the plurality of SR configurations in a BWP toindicate to the base station the numerology/TTI/service type of alogical channel (LCH) or logical channel group (LCG) that triggered theSR. In an example, the maximum number of SR configurations may be themaximum number of logical channels/logical channel groups.

In an example, there may be at most one active DL BWP and at most oneactive UL BWP at a given time for a serving cell. A BWP of a cell may beconfigured with a specific numerology/TTI. In an example, a logicalchannel and/or logical channel group that triggers SR transmission whilethe wireless device operates in one active BWP, the corresponding SR mayremain triggered in response to BWP switching.

In an example, the logical channel and/or logical channel group to SRconfiguration mapping may be (re)configured in response to switching ofthe active BWP. In an example, when the active BWP is switched, the RRCdedicated signaling may (re-)configure the logical channel and/orlogical channel group to SR configuration mapping on the new active BWP.

In an example, mapping between the logical channel and/or logicalchannel group to SR configuration may be configured when BWP isconfigured. RRC may pre-configure mapping between logical channel and/orlogical channel group to SR configurations for all the configured BWPs.In response to the switching of the active BWP, the wireless device mayemploy the RRC configured mapping relationship for the new BWP. In anexample, when BWP is configured, RRC may configure the mapping betweenlogical channel and SR configurations for the BWP.

In an example, sr-ProhibitTimer and SR_COUNTER corresponding to a SRconfiguration may continue and the value of the sr-ProhibitTimer and thevalue of the SR_COUNTER may be their values before the BWP switching.

In an example, a plurality of logical channel/logical channel group toSR-configuration mappings may be configured in a serving cell. A logicalchannel/logical channel group may be configured to be mapped to at mostone SR configuration per Bandwidth Part. In an example, a logicalchannel/logical channel group configured to be mapped onto multiple SRconfigurations in a serving cell may have one SR configuration active ata time, e.g., that of the active BWP. In an example, a plurality oflogical channel/logical channel group to SR-configuration mappings maybe supported in carrier aggregation (CA). A logical channel/logicalchannel group may be configured to be mapped to one (or more) SRconfiguration(s) in each of both PCell and PUCCH-SCell. In an example,in CA, a logical channel/logical channel group configured to be mappedto one (or more) SR configuration(s) in each of both PCell andPUCCH-SCell may have two active SR configurations (one on PCell and oneon PUCCH-SCell) at a time. In an example, The SR resource which comesfirst may be used.

In an example, a base station may configure one SR resource per BWP forthe same logical channel/logical channel group. If a SR for one logicalchannel/logical channel group is pending, it may be possible for UE totransmit SR with the SR configuration in another BWP after BWPswitching. In an example, the sr-ProhibitTimer and SR_COUNTER for the SRcorresponding to the logical channel/logical channel group may continuein response to BWP switching. In an example, when a SR for one logicalchannel/logical channel group is pending, the UE may transmit the SR inanother SR configuration corresponding to the logical channel/logicalchannel group in another BWP after BWP switching.

In an example, if multiple SRs for logical channels/logical channelgroups mapped to different SR configurations are triggered, the UE maytransmit one SR corresponding to the highest priority logicalchannel/logical channel group. In an example, the UE may transmitmultiple SRs with different SR configurations. In an example, SRstriggered at the same time (e.g., in the same NR-UNIT) by differentlogical channels/logical channel groups mapped to different SRconfigurations may be merged into a single SR corresponding to the SRtriggered by the highest priority logical channel/logical channel group.

In an example, when an SR of a first SR configuration is triggered by afirst logical channel/logical channel group while an SR proceduretriggered by a lower priority logical channel/logical channel group ison-going on another SR configuration, the later SR may be allowed totrigger another SR procedure on its own SR configuration, independentlyof the other on-going SR procedure. In an example, a UE may be allowedto send triggered SRs for logical channels/logical channel groups mappedto different SR configurations independently. In an example, UE may beallowed to send triggered SRs for LCHs corresponding to different SRconfigurations independently.

In an example, dsr-TransMax may be independently configured per SRconfiguration. In an example, SR_COUNTER may be maintained for each SRconfiguration independently. In an example, a common SR_COUNTER may bemaintained for all the SR configurations per BWP.

In an example, PUCCH resources may be configured per BWP. The PUCCHresources in the currently active BWP may be used for UCI transmission.In an example, PUCCH resource may be configured per BWP. In an example,it may be necessary to use PUCCH resources in a BWP not currently activefor UCI transmission. In an example, PUCCH resources may be configuredin a default BWP and BWP switching may be necessary for PUCCHtransmission. In an example, a UE may be allowed to send SR1 in BWP1,even though BWP1 is no longer active. In an example, the network mayreconfigure (e.g., pre-configure) the SR resources so that both SR1 andSR2 may be supported in the active BWP. In an example, an anchor BWP maybe used for SR configuration. In an example, the UE may send SR2 as“fallback”.

In an example, a logical channel/logical channel group mapped to a SRconfiguration in an active BWP may also be mapped to the SRconfiguration in another BWP to imply same or different information(e.g., numerology/TTI and priority).

In an example, a MAC entity can be configured with a plurality of SRconfigurations within the same BWP. In an example, the plurality of theSR configurations may be on the same BWP, on different BWPs, or ondifferent carriers. In an example, the numerology of the SR transmissionmay not be the same as the numerology that the logical channel/logicalchannel group that triggered the SR is mapped to.

In an example, for a LCH mapped to multiple SR configurations, the PUCCHresources for transmission of the SR may be on different BWPs ordifferent carriers. In an example, if multiple SRs are triggered, theselection of which configured SR configuration within the active BWP totransmit one SR may be up to UE implementation.

In an example, a single BWP can support multiple SR configurations. Inan example, multiple sr-ProhibitTimers (e.g., each for one SRconfiguration) may be running at the same time. In an example,drs-TransMax may be independently configured per SR configuration. In anexample, SR_COUNTER may be maintained for each SR configurationindependently.

In an example, a single logical channel/logical channel group may bemapped to zero or one SR configuration. In an example, PUCCH resourceconfiguration may be associated with a UL BWP. In an example, in CA, onelogical channel may be mapped to none or one SR configuration per BWP.

In an example, the bandwidth part (BWP) may consist of a group ofcontiguous PRBs in the frequency domain. The parameters for each BWPconfiguration may include numerology, frequency location, bandwidth size(e.g., in terms of PRBs), CORESET (e.g., required for each BWPconfiguration in case of single active DL bandwidth part for a giventime instant). In an example, one or multiple BWPs may be configured foreach component carrier when the UE is in RRC connected mode.

In an example, when a new BWP is activated, the configured downlinkassignment may be initialized (if not active) or re-initialized (ifalready active) using PDCCH.

In an example, for uplink SPS, the UE may have to initialize orre-initialize the configured uplink grant when switching from one BWP toanther BWP. When a new BWP is activated, the configured uplink grant maybe initialized (if not active) or re-initialized (if already active)using PDCCH.

In an example, for type 1 uplink data transmission without grant, theremay be no L1 signalling to initialize or re-initialize the configuredgrant. The UE may not assume the type 1 configured uplink grant isactive when the BWP is switched even if it's already active in theprevious BWP. The type 1 configured uplink grant may be re-configuredusing RRC dedicated signalling when the BWP is switched. In an example,when a new BWP is activated, the type 1 configured uplink grant may bere-configured using dedicated RRC signalling.

In an example, if SPS is configured on the resources of a BWP and thatBWP is subsequently deactivated, the SPS grants or assignments may notcontinue. In an example, when a BWP is deactivated, all configureddownlink assignments and configured uplink grants using resources ofthis BWP may be cleared.

In an example, the MAC entity may clear the configured downlinkassignment or/and uplink grants upon receiving activation/deactivationof BWP.

In an example, the unit of drx-RetransmissionTimer anddrx-ULRetransmissionTimer may be OFDM symbol corresponding to thenumerology of the active BWP.

In an example, if a UE is monitoring an active DL BWP for a long timewithout activity, the UE may move to default BWP for power saving. In anexample, a BWP inactivity timer may be introduced to switch active BWPto default BWP after a certain inactive time.

In an example, autonomous switching to DL default BWP may consider bothDL BWP inactivity timer and/or DRX timers (e.g., HARQ RTT and DRXretransmission timers). In an example, DL BWP inactivity timer may beconfigured per MAC entity. In an example, a UE may be configured tomonitor PDCCH in a default BWP at least when UE uses long DRX cycle.

In an example, PHR may not be triggered due to the switching of BWP. Inan example, the support of multiple numerologies/BWPs may not impact PHRtriggers. In an example, PHR may be triggered upon BWP activation. In anexample, a prohibit timer may start upon PHR triggering due to BWPswitching. PHR may not be triggered due to BWP switching while theprohibit timer is running. In an example, PHR may be reported peractivated/deactivated BWP.

In an example, PDCP duplication may be in an activated state while theUE receives the BWP deactivation command. In an example, when the BWPwhich the PDCP duplication is operated on is deactivated, the PDCPduplication may not be deactivated, but the PDCP entity may stop sendingthe data to the deactivated RLC buffer.

In an example, RRC signalling may configure one BWP to be activated whenthe SCell is activated. Activation/deactivation MAC CE may be used toactivate both the SCell and the configured BWP. In an example, one HARQentity can serve different BWP within one carrier.

In an example, for a UE-specific serving cell, one or more DL BWPs andone or more UL BWPs may be configured by dedicated RRC for a UE. In anexample, a single scheduling DCI may switch the UE's active BWP from oneto another. In an example, an active DL BWP may be deactivated by meansof timer for a UE to switch its active DL bandwidth part to a default DLbandwidth part.

In an example, narrower BWP may be used for DL control monitoring andwider BWP may be used for scheduled data. In an example, small data maybe allowed in narrower BWP without triggering BWP switching.

In an example embodiment, a wireless device may receive one or moremessages comprising one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages.The one or more RRC messages may comprise configuration parameters forone or more cells. The one or more cells may comprise a first cell. Theone or more messages may configure a plurality of bandwidth parts (BWPs)for one or more cells in the one or more cells configured for thewireless device. In an example, a wireless device may be configured witha DL BWP and an UL BWP to form a DL/UL BWP pair on a cell. A wirelessdevice may be configured with a plurality of DL/UL BWPs in a cell. In anexample, for paired spectrum, the DL and UL BWPs may be configuredseparately and independently for a serving cell. In an example, forunpaired spectrum, a DL BWP and an UL BWP may be jointly configured as apair. The DL BWP and the UL BWP of a DL/UL BWP pair may share the samecenter frequency. In an example, the DL BWP and the UL BWP of a DL/ULBWP in a serving cell may be have different bandwidths. A bandwidth partmay comprise a plurality of frequency resources, e.g., resource blocks(e.g., contiguous resource blocks) within a cell. Two or more DL (or UL)BWPs configured for a cell may overlap in frequency domain. In anexample, for paired spectrum up to four DL BWPs and up to four UL BWPsmay be configured for a cell. For unpaired spectrum, up to four DL/ULBWP pair may be configured for a cell. In an example, at a given time,one BWP may be active within a cell. In an example, two or more BWPs maybe active in a cell at a given time.

The plurality of bandwidth parts of a cell may comprise a defaultbandwidth part and a first/initial active bandwidth part. Thefirst/initial active bandwidth part of a SCell may indicate the BWP thatis activated in response to the SCell activation (e.g., in response toreceiving a MAC CE activating the SCell). The default BWP may indicate aBWP that the wireless device switches to, from an active BWP, inresponse to inactivity on the active BWP (e.g., in response to a BWPinactivity timer expiring). In an example, for a secondary cell, RRCsignaling for SCell configuration/reconfiguration may indicate the firstactive DL BWP and/or the first active UL BWP when the SCell isactivated. In an example, the SCell activation signaling may not containinformation related to a first active DL/UL BWP. In an example, for anSCell, active DL BWP and/or UL BWP may be deactivated in response to theSCell being deactivated.

In an example, a base station may configure BWPs on a cell for awireless device considering the wireless device capabilities. Thewireless device may transmit a capability message (e.g., using RRC),comprising/indicating bandwidth capabilities of the wireless device, tothe base station, and the base station may configure bandwidth parts fora cell considering the wireless device bandwidth capabilities. In anexample, the one or more RRC messages may configure a first BWP and asecond BWP for the first cell in the one or more configured cells. In anexample, a BWP of a cell may correspond to a transmission time interval(TTI)/numerology. The TTI/numerology of a BWP may indicate what logicalchannels/data/service types may be transmitted via the BWP. The firstBWP of the first cell may correspond to a first TTI/numerology and thesecond BWP of the first cell may correspond to a second TTI/numerology.

In an example, a wireless device may be configured (e.g., using RRCconfiguration) with a BWP inactivity timer. The wireless device mayswitch from an active BWP of a cell to a default BWP of the cell inresponse to the BWP inactivity timer expiring. The default BWP of a cellmay be configured via RRC. The wireless device may (re)start the BWPinactivity timer in response to activity on the active BWP. The activitymay be in form receiving an uplink scheduling and/or downlink assignmentDCI on and/or for the active BWP. In an example, receiving other DCIsand or receiving/transmitting other signals and/or other activities may(re)start the BWP inactivity timer.

In an example, for paired spectrum, the wireless device may start theinactivity timer in response to switching from its active DL BWP to a DLBWP other than the default BWP. The wireless device may restart thetimer to the initial value in response to successfully decoding a DCI toschedule PDSCH(s) in its active DL BWP. In an example, the initial BWPand the inactivity timer value may be RRC configured. In an example, onetimer value may be used for BWP switching. In an example, a plurality oftimer values may be configured, for example for different BWPs, forexample based on TTI/numerology of the BWPs. The wireless device mayswitch its active DL BWP to the default DL BWP in response to the timerexpiring. In an example, for unpaired spectrum, the wireless device maystart the timer in response to switching from its active DL/UL BWP pairto a DL/UL BWP pair other than the default DL/UL BWP pair. The wirelessdevice may restart the timer to the initial value in response tosuccessfully decoding PDSCH(s) in its active DL/UL BWP pair. Thewireless device may switch its active DL/UL BWP pair to the defaultDL/UL BWP pair in response to the timer expiring.

In an example embodiment, the BWP inactivity timer may expire when asmuch as K times the time granularity of the BWP inactivity timerelapses. The value of K may be RRC configured.

In an example, in a serving cell that PUCCH is configured, each UL BWPmay be configured with PUCCH resources.

In an example, for a wireless device common search space in PCell for atleast RACH procedure may be configured in each BWP. In an example, for awireless device common search space for group common PDCCH (e.g., SFI,pre-emption indication, etc.) may be configured in each BWP.

In an example, a DL (or UL) BWP may be configured for a wireless deviceby resource allocation Type 1 with a granularity of one PRB for startingfrequency location and granularity of one PRB for bandwidth size.

In an example, resources with a TTI/numerology may be used fortransmission of transport blocks comprising logical channels that aremappable to the TTI/numerology. In an example, the one or more RRCmessages may comprise configuration parameters for one or more logicalchannels. In an example, the configuration parameters may indicate thatone or more logical channels belong to a logical channel group. Theconfiguration parameters may indicate whether a logical channel and/or alogical channel group may be mapped to and/or may use resources with aTTI/numerology. In an example, the configuration parameters may indicatewhich one or more TTI/numerology a logical channel and/or logicalchannel group may be mapped to.

In an example embodiment, the wireless device may receive a firstdownlink control information (DCI). The first DCI may comprisescheduling information. The wireless device may receive the first DCIusing a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or an enhanced PDCCH(EPDCCH). The first DCI may indicate an uplink grant for the first cellon the first BWP of the first cell in the one or more configured cellsfor the wireless device. The first DCI may comprise transmissionparameters comprising resource allocation parameters (e.g., resourceblocks for transmission of one or more first transport blocks (TBs)),hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) related parameters (e.g., HARQprocess number, NDI, etc.), power control parameters, transmissiontiming, TTI/numerology, etc. The wireless device (e.g., the multiplexingand assembly entity of the wireless device) may create the one or morefirst TBs based on the transmission parameters indicated by first DCI.The first DCI may indicate the transmission timing of the one or morefirst TBs to be a first TTI. In an example, the transmission timing ofthe one or more first TBs may be based on the first TTI/numerology,e.g., TTI/numerology of the first BWP. In an example, the timegranularity for determining the transmission timing of the one or morefirst TBs (e.g., the first TTI) may be based on the firstTTI/numerology. The one or more first TBs may comprise one or morelogical channels that are mapped to the first TTI/numerology (e.g.,TTI/numerology of the first BWP). In an example, the one or more firstTBs may further comprise one or more medium access control (MAC) controlelements (MAC CEs). The wireless device may store the one or more firstTBs in the one or more HARQ buffers of one or more HARQ processesassociated with the one or more first TBs. In an example, the wirelessdevice may transmit the one or more first TBs (e.g., one or more firstredundancy versions of the one or more first TBs) stored in the one ormore HARQ buffers, on the resources of the first BWP indicated in thefirst DCI. The wireless device may then switch from the first BWP to asecond BWP. In an example, the wireless device may create the one ormore first TB s and/or may store the one or more first TBs in itsassociated one or more HARQ buffers. The wireless device may switch fromthe first BWP to a different BWP before transmitting the one or morefirst TBs (e.g., the one or more first redundancy versions of the one ormore first TBs).

In an example, the wireless device may switch from the first BWP of thefirst cell to a second BWP of the first cell. The first BWP may comprisea first DL BWP and a corresponding first uplink BWP. In an example, aDCI for DL (e.g., DL BWP) may be used for switching active DL BWP and aDCI for UL (e.g., UL BWP) may be used for switching UL active BWP. In anexample, a single DCI may switch DL and UL BWP jointly (e.g., from thefirst DL/UL BWP pair to a second DL/UL BWP pair).

In an example embodiment, the switching from the first BWP/BWP pair tothe second BWP/BWP pair may be in response to receiving a second DCIindicating the switching. The second DCI may comprise a field indicatingan identifier of the second BWP/BWP pair. In an example, the field maycomprise two bits indicating an identifier for the second BWP/BWP pair.The two-bit identifier may indicate one of four possible BWPs/BWP pairs.In an example, the second DCI may be received in a second TTI.

In an example embodiment, the switching from the first BWP to the secondBWP may be in response to expiration of a BWP inactivity timer. Thefirst BWP may be an active BWP and the second BWP may be a default BWP.The wireless device may switch from the active BWP to the default BWP inresponse to inactivity on the active BWP and expiration of the BWPinactivity timer.

The resource allocation parameters indicate by the first grant indicatedby the first DCI may include resources in the first BWP for transmissionof the one or more first TBs. In response to the wireless deviceswitching from the first BWP to the second BWP, the resource allocationparameters may no longer be valid. The wireless device may or may nothave created the one or more first TBs on or before the switching fromthe first BWP to the second BWP.

An example procedure is shown in FIG. 15. In an example embodiment, inresponse to the transmission timing of the BWP switching and/or thesecond DCI (e.g., the DCI indicating switching from the first BWP to thesecond BWP) being earlier than the transmission timing of the one ormore first TBs, the wireless device may ignore the first DCI. In anexample, in response to the second TTI being earlier than the first TTI,the wireless device may ignore the grant indicated by the first DCI. Inan example, the wireless device may flush the HARQ buffer(s) of the HARQprocesses associated with the one or more first TBs associated with thefirst DCI in response to ignoring the grant indicated by the first DCI.

In an example embodiment, in response to the transmission timing of theBWP switching and/or the second DCI (e.g., the DCI indicating switchingfrom the first BWP to the second BWP) being earlier than thetransmission timing of the one or more first TBs (e.g., the second TTIbeing earlier than the first TTI), the wireless device may ignore thegrant indicated by the first DCI. The wireless device may create the oneor more first TBs and may store the one or more first TBs in the HARQbuffer(s) of the HARQ processes associated with the one or more firstTBs. The wireless device may receive a new DCI after switching from thefirst BWP to the second BWP. The new DCI may indicate new grant/resourceallocation parameters for the HARQ processes associated with the one ormore first TBs. The new grant may indicate resources in the second BWPfor transmission of the one or more first TBs.

In an example embodiment, in response to the transmission timing of theBWP switching and/or the second DCI (e.g., the DCI indicating switchingfrom the first BWP to the second BWP) being earlier than thetransmission timing of the one or more first TBs (e.g., the second TTIbeing earlier than the first TTI) and the wireless device creating theone or more first TBs and storing the one or more first TBs in HARQbuffers associated with the one or more first TBs and the one or morefirst TBs comprising a first type of information/data/MAC CE, thewireless device may ignore the grant indicated by first DCI and/or mayflush the HARQ buffers associated with the one or more first TBs.

In an example, the first type of information/data/MAC CE may comprise apower headroom report (PHR) and/or a first type of PHR (e.g., PHR,extended PHR, etc.). In an example, the Power Headroom reportingprocedure may be used to provide the serving base station withinformation about the difference between the nominal UE maximum transmitpower and the estimated power for UL-SCH transmission or SRStransmission per activated Serving Cell and also with information aboutthe difference between the nominal UE maximum power and the estimatedpower for UL-SCH and PUCCH transmission on SpCell and PUCCH SCell. In anexample, RRC may control Power Headroom reporting by configuring aplurality of timers (e.g., periodicPHR-Timer or prohibitPHR-Timer), andby signalling dl-PathlossChange which may set the change in measureddownlink pathloss and the required power backoff due to power management(e.g., as allowed by P-MPRc) to trigger a PHR. The power headroom may betriggered in response to a plurality of conditions. The PHR MAC CE maybe created while the wireless device operates on the first BWP of thefirst cell and may not comprise correct information for the base station(e.g., for its scheduling and/or power control purposes) when thewireless device switches from the first BWP to the second BWP. In anexample, the wireless device may ignore the grant indicated by first DCIand/or may flush the HARQ buffers associated with the one or more firstTBs in response to the transmission timing of the BWP switching and/orthe second DCI (e.g., the DCI indicating switching from the first BWP tothe second BWP) being earlier than the transmission timing of the one ormore first TBs (e.g., the second TTI being earlier than the first TTI)and the wireless device creating the one or more first TBs and storingthe one or more first TBs in HARQ buffers associated with the one ormore first TBs and the one or more first TB s comprising the PHR MA CE.

In an example, the first type of information/data/MAC CE may comprisechannel state information (CSI). Channel state information (CSI)measurement feedback may comprise CQI, PMI, PTI, RI and/or other uplinkcontrol information from the wireless device. In an example, CSI may beused by the base station for scheduling and/or link adaptation. The UEmay average the channel and interference estimates over multiplesubframes/slots/TTIs to derive the CSI. In an example, the first DCI mayindicate a trigger/request for transmission of aperiodic CSI by thewireless device. In an example, the CSI may be reported periodicallybased on a configured periodicity. In an example, the CSI may becalculated while the wireless device operates on the first BWP of thefirst cell and may not comprise correct information for the base stationwhen the wireless device switches from the first BWP to the second BWP.In an example, the wireless device may ignore the grant indicated byfirst DCI and/or may flush the HARQ buffers associated with the one ormore first TBs in response to the transmission timing of the BWPswitching and/or the second DCI (e.g., the DCI indicating switching fromthe first BWP to the second BWP) being earlier than the transmissiontiming of the one or more first TBs (e.g., the second TTI being earlierthan the first TTI) and the wireless device creating the one or morefirst TBs and storing the one or more first TBs in HARQ buffersassociated with the one or more first TBs and the one or more first TB sscheduled to be transmitted with the CSI.

In an example embodiment as shown in FIG. 16, a wireless device mayreceive one or more messages. The one or more messages may compriseconfiguration parameters. The one or more messages may comprise RRCmessages. The configuration parameters may comprise configurationparameters of a first bandwidth part and a second bandwidth part. In anexample, the first bandwidth part and the second bandwidth part may befor a cell of the wireless device. The one or more messages may compriseconfiguration parameters of the cell. In an example, the first bandwidthpart may be for a first cell and the second bandwidth part may be for asecond cell. The one or more messages may comprise configurationparameters of the first cell and the second cell.

The wireless device may receive a first downlink control informationindicating an uplink grant for transmission of one or more firsttransport blocks via the first bandwidth part in a transmission time.The transmission time may be the time for transmission of a physicaluplink shared channel wherein the one or more transport blocks may betransmitted via the physical uplink shared channel. In an example, thetransmission time may be dynamically indicated to the wireless device.In an example, the transmission time may be determined by the wirelessdevice based on a value of a field in the DCI. In an example, thetransmission time may be determined based on the value of the field inthe DCI and one or more RRC configured parameters. In an example, thevalue of the field may provide an index to one of the one or more RRCconfigured parameters. In an example, the transmission time may bedetermined based on a number of slots/symbols and the number may bedetermined based on the value of the field in the DCI and/or the one ormore RRC configured parameters.

The wireless device may receive a second DCI indicating a switching fromthe first bandwidth part to the second bandwidth part. In an example,the second DCI may comprise a field and a value of the field mayindicate an identifier of the second bandwidth part. In an example, thewireless device may receive the second DCI while the first bandwidthpart is an active bandwidth part. In an example, the switching from thefirst bandwidth part to the second bandwidth part may be at a switchingtime. In an example, the switching time may be determined based on thesecond DCI. In an example, the second DCI may indicate radio resourcesin a second transmission/reception time and the switching time may bebased on the second transmission/reception time. In an example, theswitching time may be based on the second transmission/reception timeand the switching time may be based on the second transmission/receptiontime and an offset parameter. In an example, the offset may have apre-configured value. In an example, the offset may be pre-configured.In an example, the switching time may be based on a reception time ofthe second DCI and a pre-configured offset. In an example, the offsetmay be configured by RRC. In an example, the switching time may be basedon the reception time of the second DCI and one or more RRC configuredvalues.

The wireless device may ignore the uplink grant in response to theswitching time being earlier than the transmission time. In an example,the wireless device may create one or more transport blocks in responseto receiving the first downlink control information. The wireless devicemay flush the or more buffers associated with the one or more firsttransport blocks in response to the ignoring. In an example, the one ormore buffers may be one or more HARQ buffers. The wireless device maystore one or more redundancy versions of the one or more transportblocks in response to the creating the one or more transport blocks. Inan example, the wireless device may ignore/discard the one or moreredundancy versions of the one or more transport blocks in response tothe flushing.

In an example, in response to the ignoring the uplink grant, thewireless device may receive a third downlink control informationindicating transmission of one or more second transport blocks via thesecond bandwidth part. The one or more second bandwidth part may beassociated with the same one or more HARQ process numbers of the one ormore first transport blocks. The one or more first transport blocks maybe associated with one or more first HARQ process numbers and the one ormore second transport blocks may be associated with the one or morefirst HARQ process numbers.

According to various embodiments, a device such as, for example, awireless device, off-network wireless device, a base station, and/or thelike, may comprise one or more processors and memory. The memory maystore instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors,cause the device to perform a series of actions. Embodiments of exampleactions are illustrated in the accompanying figures and specification.Features from various embodiments may be combined to create yet furtherembodiments.

FIG. 17 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. At 1710, a wireless device may receiveconfiguration parameters of a first bandwidth part and a secondbandwidth part. At 1720, a first downlink control information may bereceived. The first downlink control information may indicate an uplinkgrant for transmission of one or more first transport blocks via thefirst bandwidth part in a transmission time. At 1730, a second downlinkcontrol information may be received. The second downlink controlinformation may indicate switching from the first bandwidth part to thesecond bandwidth part in a switching time. At 1740, the uplink grant maybe ignored in response to the switching time being earlier than thetransmission time.

According to an example embodiment, the first bandwidth part and thesecond bandwidth part may be for a cell of the wireless device.According to an example embodiment, the first downlink controlinformation may indicate the transmission time. According to an exampleembodiment, the switching time may be based on the second downlinkcontrol information. According to an example embodiment, the seconddownlink control information may comprise a field. A value of the fieldmay indicate an identifier of the second bandwidth part. According to anexample embodiment, the one or more first transport blocks may becreated in response to the receiving the first downlink controlinformation. According to an example embodiment, one or more buffersassociated with the one or more first transport blocks may be flushed inresponse to the ignoring. According to an example embodiment, one ormore redundancy versions of the one or more first transport blocks maybe stored in one or more buffers associated with the one or more firsttransport blocks. According to an example embodiment, a third downlinkcontrol information may be received in response to the ignoring. Thethird downlink control information may indicate transmission of one ormore second transport blocks via the second bandwidth part. The one ormore second transport blocks may be associated with one or more firsthybrid automatic repeat request numbers. The one or more first transportblocks may be associated with the one or more first hybrid automaticrepeat request numbers. According to an example embodiment, the firstdownlink control information may indicate the transmission time.According to an example embodiment, the switching time may be based onthe second downlink control information.

According to an example embodiment, the second downlink controlinformation may comprise a field. A value of the field may indicate anidentifier of the second bandwidth part. According to an exampleembodiment, the first downlink control information may indicate thetransmission time. According to an example embodiment, the switchingtime may be based on the second downlink control information. Accordingto an example embodiment, the switching time may be before the creationof the one or more first transport blocks. According to an exampleembodiment, the second downlink control information may comprise asecond grant indicating resource allocation in the second bandwidthpart. According to an example embodiment, the one or more firsttransport blocks may be created in response to the receiving the firstdownlink control information. According to an example embodiment, one ormore buffers associated with the one or more first transport blocks maybe flushed in response to the ignoring. According to an exampleembodiment, one or more redundancy versions of the more and moretransport blocks may be stored in one or more buffers associated withthe one or more first transport blocks. According to an exampleembodiment, a third downlink control information may be received inresponse to the ignoring. The third downlink control information mayindicate transmission of one or more second transport blocks via thesecond bandwidth part. The one or more second transport blocks may beassociated with one or more first hybrid automatic repeat requestnumbers. The one or more first transport blocks may be associated withthe one or more first hybrid automatic repeat request numbers. Accordingto an example embodiment, the switching time may be before the creationof the one or more first transport blocks. According to an exampleembodiment, the second downlink control information may comprise asecond grant indicating resource allocation in the second bandwidthpart.

FIG. 18 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. At 1810, a wireless device may receive a firstdownlink control information. The first downlink control information mayindicate an uplink grant for transmission of one or more first transportblocks via a first bandwidth part in a transmission time. At 1820, asecond downlink control information may be received. The second downlinkcontrol information may indicate switching from the first bandwidth partto a second bandwidth part in a switching time. At 1830, the uplinkgrant may be ignored in response to the switching time being earlierthan the transmission time.

In this specification, “a” and “an” and similar phrases are to beinterpreted as “at least one” and “one or more.” In this specification,the term “may” is to be interpreted as “may, for example.” In otherwords, the term “may” is indicative that the phrase following the term“may” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities thatmay, or may not, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments.If A and B are sets and every element of A is also an element of B, A iscalled a subset of B. In this specification, only non-empty sets andsubsets are considered. For example, possible subsets of B={cell1,cell2} are: {cell1}, {cell2}, and {cell1, cell2}.

In this specification, parameters (Information elements: IEs) maycomprise one or more objects, and each of those objects may comprise oneor more other objects. For example, if parameter (IE) N comprisesparameter (IE) M, and parameter (IE) M comprises parameter (IE) K, andparameter (IE) K comprises parameter (information element) J, then, forexample, N comprises K, and N comprises J. In an example embodiment,when one or more messages comprise a plurality of parameters, it impliesthat a parameter in the plurality of parameters is in at least one ofthe one or more messages, but does not have to be in each of the one ormore messages.

Many of the elements described in the disclosed embodiments may beimplemented as modules. A module is defined here as an isolatableelement that performs a defined function and has a defined interface toother elements. The modules described in this disclosure may beimplemented in hardware, software in combination with hardware,firmware, wetware (i.e. hardware with a biological element) or acombination thereof, all of which are behaviorally equivalent. Forexample, modules may be implemented as a software routine written in acomputer language configured to be executed by a hardware machine (suchas C, C++, Fortran, Java, Basic, Matlab or the like) or amodeling/simulation program such as Simulink, Stateflow, GNU Octave, orLabVIEWMathScript. Additionally, it may be possible to implement modulesusing physical hardware that incorporates discrete or programmableanalog, digital and/or quantum hardware. Examples of programmablehardware comprise: computers, microcontrollers, microprocessors,application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs); field programmablegate arrays (FPGAs); and complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs).Computers, microcontrollers and microprocessors are programmed usinglanguages such as assembly, C, C++ or the like. FPGAs, ASICs and CPLDsare often programmed using hardware description languages (HDL) such asVHSIC hardware description language (VHDL) or Verilog that configureconnections between internal hardware modules with lesser functionalityon a programmable device. Finally, it needs to be emphasized that theabove mentioned technologies are often used in combination to achievethe result of a functional module.

The disclosure of this patent document incorporates material which issubject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection tothe facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or thepatent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Officepatent file or records, for the limited purposes required by law, butotherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

While various embodiments have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example, and notlimitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevantart(s) that various changes in form and detail can be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope. In fact, after reading theabove description, it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevantart(s) how to implement alternative embodiments. Thus, the presentembodiments should not be limited by any of the above describedexemplary embodiments. In particular, it should be noted that, forexample purposes, the above explanation has focused on the example(s)using FDD communication systems. However, one skilled in the art willrecognize that embodiments of the invention may also be implemented in asystem comprising one or more TDD cells (e.g. frame structure 2 and/orframe structure 3-licensed assisted access). The disclosed methods andsystems may be implemented in wireless or wireline systems. The featuresof various embodiments presented in this invention may be combined. Oneor many features (method or system) of one embodiment may be implementedin other embodiments. Only a limited number of example combinations areshown to indicate to one skilled in the art the possibility of featuresthat may be combined in various embodiments to create enhancedtransmission and reception systems and methods.

In addition, it should be understood that any figures which highlightthe functionality and advantages, are presented for example purposesonly. The disclosed architecture is sufficiently flexible andconfigurable, such that it may be utilized in ways other than thatshown. For example, the actions listed in any flowchart may bere-ordered or only optionally used in some embodiments.

Further, the purpose of the Abstract of the Disclosure is to enable theU.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, andespecially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art whoare not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determinequickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of thetechnical disclosure of the application. The Abstract of the Disclosureis not intended to be limiting as to the scope in any way.

Finally, it is the applicant's intent that only claims that include theexpress language “means for” or “step for” be interpreted under 35U.S.C. 112, paragraph 6. Claims that do not expressly include the phrase“means for” or “step for” are not to be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by a wirelessdevice, configuration parameters of a first bandwidth part and a secondbandwidth part; receiving a first downlink control informationindicating an uplink grant for transmission of one or more firsttransport blocks via the first bandwidth part in a transmission time;receiving a second downlink control information indicating switchingfrom the first bandwidth part to the second bandwidth part in aswitching time; and ignoring the uplink grant in response to theswitching time being earlier than the transmission time.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein the first bandwidth part and the second bandwidthpart are for a cell of the wireless device.
 3. The method of claim 2,wherein the first downlink control information indicates thetransmission time.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the switching timeis based on the second downlink control information.
 5. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the second downlink control information comprises afield, a value of the field indicating an identifier of the secondbandwidth part.
 6. The method of claim 2, further comprising: creatingthe one or more first transport blocks in response to the receiving thefirst downlink control information; and flushing one or more buffersassociated with the one or more first transport blocks in response tothe ignoring.
 7. The method of claim 2, further comprising storing oneor more redundancy versions of the one or more first transport blocks inone or more buffers associated with the one or more first transportblocks.
 8. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving, inresponse to the ignoring, a third downlink control informationindicating transmission of one or more second transport blocks via thesecond bandwidth part, wherein: the one or more second transport blocksare associated with one or more first hybrid automatic repeat requestnumbers; and the one or more first transport blocks are associated withthe one or more first hybrid automatic repeat request numbers.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the first downlink control informationindicates the transmission time.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein theswitching time is based on the second downlink control information. 11.The method of claim 1, wherein the second downlink control informationcomprises a field, a value of the field indicating an identifier of thesecond bandwidth part.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the firstdownlink control information indicates the transmission time.
 13. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the switching time is based on the seconddownlink control information.
 14. The method of claim 11, wherein theswitching time is before creating the one or more first transportblocks.
 15. The method of claim 11, wherein the second downlink controlinformation comprises a second grant indicating resource allocation inthe second bandwidth part.
 16. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: creating the one or more first transport blocks in responseto the receiving the first downlink control information; and flushingone or more buffers associated with the one or more first transportblocks in response to the ignoring.
 17. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising storing one or more redundancy versions of the more and moretransport blocks in one or more buffers associated with the one or morefirst transport blocks.
 18. The method of claim 1, further comprisingreceiving, in response to the ignoring, a third downlink controlinformation indicating transmission of one or more second transportblocks via the second bandwidth part, wherein: the one or more secondtransport blocks are associated with one or more first hybrid automaticrepeat request numbers; and the one or more first transport blocks areassociated with the one or more first hybrid automatic repeat requestnumbers.
 19. The method of claim 1, wherein the switching time is beforecreating the one or more first transport blocks.
 20. The method of claim1, wherein the second downlink control information comprises a secondgrant indicating resource allocation in the second bandwidth part.